The Sanctuary of Maria Santissima di Costantinopoli
The Byzantine tradition survives in Rende in the worship of Maria Santissima di Costantinopoli.
This religious worship is tied to a painting in copper that illustrates the Mother Mary in a different frontal posture than the other Marian iconographies, defined by critics as a stain, intended as a draft that represents the emotions and the impressions of the artist at that exact moment.
The building goes back to 1719 and is attributed to local artists like Francesco Belmonte and Raffaele De Bartolo. Expanded and decorated in 1750, it presents a linear hut facade interrupted by lithic gate and in its upper part it presents a wide glass skylight surmonted by a triangular tympanum with a wide perimetral frame.
Its interior is latin cross-shaped with one central nave with polycromed plasters and an altar made of coloured marble that recalls the Neapolitaner Baroque.
Its 5 meter diameter dome was tempera-decorated by Achille Capizzano in 1949 and portraites Madonna di Costantinopoli. To the right of the nave the wooden covered pulpit, engraved and embellished by the master craftsman Gabriele De Paola.
