Church of Santa Maria Maddalena in Buccheri
Paolino.uccello - CC4.0
The Church of Santa Maria Maddalena in Buccheri, an important place of worship in the town, is a place of considerable historical and artistic interest due to the treasures of high artistic value kept in it.
The church stands in what was once the eastern outskirts of the town, the locality cuozzu a Chiana, which today represents the heart of the city.
The date of construction of the church is not known, it is certain that it already existed in the 15th century. he decides to demolish the ancient structure and build a new church, with the contribution of all the faithful, since the ancient structure turned out to be very small and uncomfortable. The works of the new church went very slowly, and when the earthquake of 1693 struck the city of Buccheri, the structure had not yet been completed. So it was that, after the earthquake, the construction work of the church was started again but it was decided to rebuild it on the ruins of the ancient church of Spirito Santo. The works went slowly as the decision to choose this new site, considered too close to the Mother Church, created great delays, and the new facade was only inaugurated in 1792.
The interior, with three naves, has a basilica plan . The central nave has a vaulted ceiling and is limited by two rows of columns.
Inside it houses works of notable artistic value: the Maddalena sculpted in marble in 1508, a masterpiece by Antonello Gagini; a painted wooden statue depicting San Biagio, by the Neapolitan sculptor Gaetano Francese; a sixteenth-seventeenth-century crucifix; and the fifteenth-century statue of Christ at the column known as “patri abbunnanzia”, which every year on Holy Thursday was carried in procession through the countryside for the blessing of the crops, followed by the barefoot people holding handfuls of ears of corn and lights of “ busa”.
