Church Santa Maria Pura del Gargano

Cultural religious site

Just outside the city walls, the small church of Santa Maria Pura del Gargano is from the 17th-18th century, and is located below the Civita district, probably on the remains of an ancient abbey, surrounded by greenery. The name of the building derives from the custom of burying virgins and children inside the church, an ancient custom cited in the Book of the Dead (preserved in the Mother Church with writings ranging from 1600 onwards). The sober external façade hides an interior with three naves, of which the central one is covered with wooden trusses, while the side ones are surmounted by non-symmetrical arches in stone blocks. A triumphal arch conciliates the presbytery and the central nave, covered by a concrete dome. Below, instead, lies the Baroque main altar, in local soft stone and the altar along the right aisle, carved into the rock. The decorations and statues are also in local stone and are presumed to be from the Baroque of Lecce. Annexed to the Church of S. Maria Pura is a very restored factory, which in the past was a hospital held by the “Fatebenefratelli” for the shelter of soldiers sick in the eighteenth century. Nearby there is the torrent from which comes Asciatizzi, one of the few perennial waters of the Gargano.