Church of the Congregation of the Assumption of Mary

The Church of the Assumption of Mary had various titles over the centuries: originally San Nicola, in the mid-18th century Santa Maria degli Angeli, and from the late 18th century, following the birth of the Congregation of the Assumption, Santa Maria dell'Assunta. It stands in one of the oldest sites of Botrugno, known as Pozzelle, near the road leading to Sanarica.\n\nThe first building of the current Church of the Assumption most likely dates back to the 13th century, with a single-nave layout and a projecting apse, covered by a sloping roof with tiles, conforming to the most widespread architectural typology in the medieval Otranto area. The frescoed interior of the apse reveals two heavily degraded images dating from the 13th century, attributable to the work of Italo-Greek monks, depicting: on the left Saint Basil with a scroll displaying the beginning of one of his prayers in Greek, while on the right Saint John Chrysostom (erroneously identified by some scholars as Saint Nicholas) holding a cartouche containing the beginning of another prayer by Saint Basil. These paintings constitute one of the increasingly rare and important testimonies of Byzantine art in Salento.\n\nThe new facade features a cuspidate tympanum topped by a 19th-century sculpture depicting the Immaculate Conception, with the year 1815 inscribed at its base and traces of color. In addition to the old bell tower, built from simple double-light piers but with only one bell from 1945, a modern bell tower was constructed in 1967 in a stylistic form not entirely in harmony with the ancient building.\n\nThe only altar in the Church is divided between the mensa, moved forward and dating from the late 18th century, and the wooden structure from the 19th century that houses the canvas of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Heaven with Saints Charles Borromeo and Gaetano Thiene.