The Hermitage of the Madonna d’Appari is located on the route that connects Paganica and Camarda, two hamlets of the city of L’Aquila. The church belongs to the hamlet of Paganica.
The church, whose construction dates back to the 13th century after an alleged apparition of Our Lady of Sorrows by the shepherdess Maddalena Chiaravalle, is located on the road that climbs towards the Gran Sasso, inside a gorge, therefore in a very suggestive position.
The primary nucleus of the church was a votive aedicule, later transformed into a small temple carved into the rock. Then followed, between the 14th and 15th centuries, the construction of the facade and, later in 1519, the expansion was made with the openings towards the Raiale stream.
What does the Church look like today?
The sanctuary of the Madonna d’Appari is squeezed between a rock wall and the course of the Raiale stream, a tributary of the Aterno, which form a natural churchyard. The facade is simple and characterized by a portal with a round arch, a circular window and a bell gable with three arches. The interior, with a single nave with cross vaults, is transversely cut by two structural arches and is entirely frescoed using the comic strip technique. The presbytery, probably the oldest part of the building, is rotated with respect to the axis of the church and irregular in shape due to its proximity to the rock face.
To visit the hermitage of the Madonna d’Appari call 0862 68316 – 3386765768.
Photo by Francesco Moriconi on the group Viaggiando Abruzzo (gruppo ufficiale)
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