Church of St. Mary of Constantinople
The first works for the construction of this church date back to the early 1800s. But its construction lasted over time and was almost certainly consecrated in 1867 as can be read both on the rose window of the church floor, which is now in the sacristy after the restoration of 1992, both on the frescoes of the dome. In all probability the church of S. Maria of Constantinople went to replace a small church dating back to 1550 with the same name better known as “S. Maria d’o Puopolo” and of which only some remains of the perimeter walls remain on the homonymous hill. The church is located in Casale district, in the current Piazza Europa, in the upper part of the village.
On the entrance portal we find a lovely ceramic panel with the effigy of the Madonna of Constantinople placed in a plaster niche and made in 1932 by Ceramica Pinto di Vietri sul Mare. Inside there is a beautiful statue depicting the Madonna delle Grazie carried in procession through the streets of the village every year at the beginning of June. The church has a single nave with transept and bell tower. It has a rectangular plan with a transept surmounted by a small dome at the corners of which the sails depicted the four Evangelists frescoed by the painter Manzo. The central altar is made of polychrome marble with the sides of the tabernacle of the round representing four angels, while in the lower part of the altar there is the Marian symbol enclosed in a circle.
After the flood of 1910 that destroyed it almost totally, the reconstruction works started and the bell tower was built between 1930 and 1940 in the corner between the transept and the nave. In this church there is also an altarpiece depicting the Madonna and Child with Saints, probably brought here after the destruction of the old church in the hills. According to some scholars the work may belong to the school of D’Amato, painters of Maiori who were protagonists from 1575 to the early decades of 1600 with numerous commissions for works of the churches of the Amalfi Coast. After a restoration of the work, made between 2010 and 2012, on the altarpiece appeared a signature although hardly readable “Tanga”. In this specific case one could think of the Neapolitan painters Paolo and Francesco Tanga, of whom, however, there are few testimonies of their works on the Amalfi Coast. In the small sacristy of this rural church there is a marble bas-relief in the background of a wall fountain. Inside the nave then, just above the entrance door of the temple, there is a small choir with a pipe organ.
