Chiesa della Madonna della Salute

The Church of the Madonna della Salute stands beside Torre Liparulo in the frazione of San Francesco, Massa Lubrense. Its eighteenth-century altar, maiolica floor and devotional works preserve layers of the hamlet's religious history.

Why it matters

The church was founded by the Liparulo family in the sixteenth century and later became part of the larger convent complex. Its altar records the family's patronage, while its connection with the nearby tower links the church to the defensive history of the area.

What to notice

The black-tufa portal opens onto a single nave ending in a three-arcade apse. The eighteenth-century polychrome-marble altar centres on the Madonna della Salute, flanked by Saint Lucy and Saint Catherine. The Cappella di San Francesco contains a seventeenth-century altar and an urn associated with the martyrs of Otranto. A maiolica floor continues through the church and sacristy, and a fifteenth-century wooden Virgin is among the preserved furnishings.

Context and history

Originally titled Santa Maria della Sanità, the church was built in 1582 by the Liparulo family. The Torre Liparulo, which resisted the 1558 Saracen invasion, was later adapted as the complex's bell tower. The convent's history includes the expulsion of the Minim friars in 1837, the building's use as a cholera hospital and later as a prison and courthouse, and the friars' return in 1929. Bishop Monsignor Gallo proclaimed Saint Francis of Paola patron of Massa Lubrense here.