The Church of Saint Mary at Castro in Praiano

Church and History in Praiano

Overlooking the sea at 364 metres above sea level, sits the little Church of Santa Maria a Castro (St. Mary at Castro), which is joined to the very old Convent of San Domenico (St. Dominic) that dominates the area of Vettica Maggiore, the commercial heart of Praiano. The spot has been dedicated to religious cults since ancient times, and it is still possible to admire the form of a sacrificial altar inside the church. It is located in the principal nave and so it is believed that the site has been used as a place of worship since the first human settlements in the area. The visitor to the church is immediately aware of the marvellous solitude, the mystic contact with the perfection of the Creator that the place permits. The panorama and the solemnity of the site, immersed in luxurious Mediterranean scrub and commanding a breathtaking view of the gulf, are worth the steps necessary to reach the church and the convent . It is open occasionally ( ask at the Pro Loco in Praiano) and always on occasion of the feast of Saint Dominic, patron of the monastic order to whom the church and convent were dedicated in 1599.

The convent is two stories tall and the first floor is constructed in the 'double order of vaults', a system of construction that is very diffused and typical on the Amalfi Coast. In the Church of St. Mary at Castro, the Madonna of the Graces is worshipped and a large fresco in her honour covers the entire basin of the apse in the left nave of the building which was constructed by Papal grant in 1430 A.D. The Madonna of the Graces, as the name suggests, is invoked to obtain miracles and cures and it is probable that the church served as a thaumaturgical site in the past. Traces of this ancient significance are still seen today in the rites that accompany the feast of St. Dominic, which is celebrated with a Luminaria (illuminations). From the 1st to the 4th of August every angle of the town and the entire area of the convent are lit with torches, candles, and bonfires that recall the purifying and illuminating powers of fire and light. Less known, yet very diffused among the inhabitants, is the rite of walking up to the church at dawn on the feast of the saint and ringing the antique bell of the church as a propitiatory and good luck act, and bringing down from the site, branches of fragrant myrtle that has been considered a ritual and sacred plant since the times of ancient Greece.