Chiesa di Santa Maria dell'Aiuto

An ancient church, likely existing even before the city walls were built. Possibly the city's first parish. Here, an ancient image of the Virgin Mary, painted on the wall, was venerated as miraculous, to which the faithful turned in cases of suffering among their domestic and work animals.\n\nIn 1732, the current church was built on a public street and at a higher elevation, accessed by a double staircase. The 18th-century facade, decorated with simple rectangles, is softened by the bizarre composition of the arched pediment with two tall lateral volutes. The interior is crisp and elegant, with a series of pilasters flanking the wall that divide the entire space. At the far end is the single altar, characterized by two Corinthian columns of green marbled stucco, with the frieze above featuring a broken pediment terminating in a canvas of God the Father, framing the niche with the wooden statue from 1938 of the Madonna Ausiliatrice, which replaced the original 18th-century statue preserved in a side niche, opposite the niche with the papier-mâché statue of San Vincenzo Ferreri.\n\nIt preserves a majolica pavement from 1881 and a small 18th-century pipe organ.