When Chad and I took our first European sabbatical in 2009, we were on a very strict budget.  As a result, when we went to a new city, anything that was free was automatically on our list of things to do.  This included parks, botanical gardens, markets, festivals, and churches.

The basilica

Basilica ceiling

Basilica statue

There are many beautiful churches in Forio.  Italy is deeply religious.  In addition to being part of a Catholic country, Southern Italy venerates the Virgin Mary, and She has prominence in the churches and in the shrines in the streets. 

Santa Maria di Loreto

Santa Maria di Loreto interior – this is all stonework, not plaster

Santa Maria di Loreto side room

Santa Maria di Loreto statue

Also, many churches were built in the 1800s in a kind of Nouveau Baroque style on the interior.  The original Baroque style was in the 1600s, and the churches here borrowed heavily on that style 200 years later.  This means that the churches have the intricate design and decoration of the Baroque style but it is still in great condition since it isn’t that old.   The exteriors are generally simple which makes the decorated interior all that much more surprising.

San Gaetano

San Gaetano cupola with sundial

Figurehead over the entry door to San Gaetano

The Nouveau Baroque interior of San Gaetano

San Gaetano hand-painted tile floor

As Ischia is an island, many churches have a nautical theme of some sort – lines of rope carved into the walls, sailing ships painted into the plaster.  I even saw a pulpit made out an anchor, but I didn’t take a photo because people were praying in the church and I didn’t want to be disrespectful.  (Dad, I can draw you a picture :)

Chiesa del Soccorso

Chiesa del Soccorso interior – see the ships sitting on the plaster molding at the tops of the walls?

Close up of a ship and some baby angels over the archway

There is one church that sticks with me after visiting it.  It was consecrated in 1865, and there is a dedication engraved in the ceiling just above the front door.  Without looking at my notes, I don’t remember exactly which church this was.  I don’t remember if it had the beautiful hand-painted floor tiles or if it had model ships displayed on the walls or if it was the one with the cupola with the pink light streaming in.  What I do remember is standing there, looking at the engraving, and thinking that in 1865, the same summer the church was consecrated, the US was just finishing 4 years of a terrible civil war and coming out on the other side, free of slavery.  I feel like my world just got a lot smaller in a way that is much bigger than I am.

Santa Maria di Visitapoveri

Santa Maria di Visitapoveri interior

Santa Maria di Visitapoveri tile floor

Santa Maria di Visitapoveri interior