Church of Santa Maria della Stella

Church of Santa Maria della Stella: where art meets devotion In the charming district named after it, the Church of Santa Maria della Stella represents one of the jewels of the artistic heritage of Catanzaro.

This convent complex, born from the faith of the Capuchin Clarisses in the sixteenth century, now houses priceless pictorial masterpieces and a history that intertwines spirituality, art, and social transformations. A foundation between chronicles and legends The foundation of the monastery dates back to between 1583 and 1588, a period of great religious fervor. Luise Gariano in his "Chronicle of Catanzaro" of 1607 fixes the date on November 4, 1585, during the pontificate of Sixtus V and the episcopate of Nicolò degli Orazi, under the reign of Philip II of Spain. Vincenzo D'Amato specifies that the works were completed in 1588, the year of the canonization of Saint Diego of Alcalá, to whom the monastery's rule was dedicated. The complex arose in the ancient confines of the medieval parish of San Nicola Coracitano, in the Vescovato district. Its construction was so significant that the entire area, including the current Piano Grande where the Bianchi and Cricelli palaces still stand, took the name "quartiere Stella" (Stella district). Baroque transformations and artistic splendors In the seventeenth century, the Franciscan Third Order nuns undertook ambitious expansion and embellishment works. They enlarged the convent, extended the church, reinforced the perimeter walls, and created six arches under which they raised as many altars with carved wooden spires, "overhead columns and very fine gilding." Traces of these ancient splendors emerged during the 1999 restorations: frescoes with egg-and-dart cornices, acanthus decorations, and ribbons that testify to the original decorative richness. From the Clarisses to the "Verginelle": a story of rebirths The earthquake of 1783 marked a dramatic turning point. The nuns, forced to officiate in a "shack" in the cloister, definitively abandoned the convent in 1790. The Murat decree of 1813 transferred the parish title of San Nicola Coracitano here, while the ancient medieval temple became the Foundlings' Hospice, popularly known as "La Ruota" (The Wheel). A new life began in 1822 when Canon Antonio Masciari founded the Conservatory of the Verginelle in the convent. The church thus became a parish and chapel of the orphanage, undergoing new adaptations: a choir was created for the "educands" in the nuns' clerestory, expanded after 1922 by Don Tommaso Pugliatti with a choir loft supported by columns decorated in faux marble. An architecture that dialogues with tradition The façade, similar in design to that of San Francesco di Paola, presents an elegant balance between classical and baroque elements. Two pilasters with Corinthian capitals frame the facade, closed by a projecting pediment on which two small bell towers rise. The port...