Cappelletta Stella Maris

At Punta Santa Croce, a small votive chapel stands on the base of an old watchtower. Blessed and inaugurated in 1929, it commemorates those lost at sea.

Why it matters

The Cappelletta's history explains its place in Alassio's maritime identity. On this stretch of water between the isola Gallinara and Capo Mele, tradition placed the Scoglio delle Vedove — the widows' rock — a reef that wrecked boats and left fishing families grieving, giving the rock its grim name. Alassio's seafaring families entrusted themselves to the Star of the Sea, and in the 1920s they pressed for a memorial chapel. The provincial tourism portal records that local sailors and fishermen drove the project, and the town portal dates its blessing and inauguration to 1929. What was built is both a monument to the fallen of the sea, as the epigraph beneath the apse states, and an act of thanksgiving for calmer waters.

What to notice

The site is a palimpsest. A coastal defence tower once stood here, and part of its masonry remains in the chapel's apse. Inside, a fresco of the Madonna hovering in white robes above the sea, by the local painter Beniscelli, hangs over an altar of slate; it was repainted some twenty years after the original weathered. An alabaster statue of the Madonna di Trapani is linked by tradition to the Templars and to Sicily, and outside stands a modern metal crucifix by Giuseppe Mastroianni with a dedication to the incorruptible Christ. The bell was restored to operation in 2010.

Context and history

The chapel reflects two eras of coastal life: the defensive age of watchtowers and the devotional traditions of fishing communities dependent on dangerous waters. Its consecration in 1929 commemorated losses remembered in the widows' rock legend. The memorial purpose is recorded in the inscription beneath the apse.