santuario, della pietà e tradizione popolare, Santuario Maria Santissima del Carmelo

The Santuario Maria Santissima del Carmelo, part of the Sant’Elia complex, sits on a terrace overlooking the Piana Lametina. It is a Baroque church with a single nave and barrel vault, its façade facing south-west, the campanile to the right. One enters through an endonarthex, a small, three-bay space; the central bay holds the wooden door, the flanking bays are open. This narthex supports the cantoria above, where the organ is placed, and from here one can also reach the roof space.

Inside, the elongated nave is lined with stucco arches, a reminder of the site’s conventual origins. A prominent cornice divides the arch zone from the upper register of windows: four real windows on the east side, four blind windows on the west, hidden by convent buildings. Beyond the triumphal arch, the square presbytery has niches with statues and supports a circular dome on an octagonal drum. The apse is round, covered by a half-dome, with the high altar in polychrome marble set beneath an aedicule. There is also a subterranean cemetery.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.