{"id":2366,"date":"2025-11-24T10:22:34","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T10:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prolocougentoemarine.it\/?p=2366"},"modified":"2025-11-27T15:08:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T15:08:15","slug":"church-of-madonna-del-curato","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prolocougentoemarine.it\/en\/church-of-madonna-del-curato\/","title":{"rendered":"Church of Madonna del Curato"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chiesa
The exterior of the Church of Madonna del Curato<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Church of the <\/span>Madonna del Curato<\/i><\/b> in Ugento rises on a gentle hill, along the road that was named after the sanctuary itself. The small church dates back to the 14th century and was later rebuilt in two phases: the first between the late 1500s and early 1600s, after a fire; the second in the 19th century, when the vault was reconstructed in the traditional Salento style, known as a <\/span>stella<\/span><\/i> (<\/b>star-shaped<\/i><\/b>)<\/b> vault.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mystery of the name<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Locals know it as the Church of the <\/span>Madonna del Curato<\/i><\/b>, a name that may have originated from the small barrel-vaulted room on the left side of the building, where the parish priest once lived.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the church\u2019s original name was quite different: <\/span>Madonna del Corallo<\/i><\/b>, \u201cOur Lady of the Coral.\u201d The two words \u2014 <\/span>corallo<\/i><\/b> (coral) and <\/span>curato<\/i><\/b> (curate) \u2014 sound similar, and over time a sort of popular reinterpretation distorted the first into the second. And so, the Church of the <\/span>Madonna del Corallo<\/i><\/b> gradually became the Church of the<\/span> Madonna del Curato<\/i><\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Affresco
Fresco of the Nursing Madonna<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recent restoration works uncovered ancient frescoes and structural elements belonging to the church\u2019s earliest phase. They also brought to light something else: several fragments of red coral. A coincidence? Perhaps not \u2014 they may have been devotional offerings (<\/span>ex-votos<\/span><\/i>) dedicated to the <\/span>Madonna del Corallo<\/i><\/b>. And with this discovery, the church\u2019s true name re-emerges.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201csinful\u201d Madonna of the Milk<\/b><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Inside the Church of the <\/span>Madonna del Curato<\/i><\/b> in Ugento, you can admire the fresco of the <\/span>Madonna del Latte<\/i><\/b> \u2014 the Madonna nursing the Child \u2014 one of the few surviving examples in Italy, dating to the first half of the 17th century. After that period, depictions of the Virgin breastfeeding were no longer permitted in religious buildings, as they were deemed \u201csinful\u201d under the strict rules of the <\/span>Catholic Counter-Reformation<\/i><\/b>*.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the right side of the church\u2019s only altar, you\u2019ll also find a full-figure fresco of <\/span>Saint Vitus<\/i><\/b> \u2014 once, the patron saint of Ugento, before being replaced by <\/span>Saint Vincent<\/i><\/b> (and, unofficially, in popular tradition, by the <\/span>Saints Cosmas and Damian<\/i><\/b>).<\/span><\/p>\n

*The Catholic Counter-Reformation was the Church\u2019s response to the Protestant Reformation, aimed at strengthening faith and discipline.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Interno
Detail of the church interior<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Jewish Quarter and the Lost Greek Rite<\/b><\/strong><\/h4>\n

The Church of the <\/span>Madonna del Curato<\/i><\/b> once stood in a particularly significant area of Ugento: very close to the defensive walls built in the 5th\u20136th centuries AD by the <\/span>Eastern Roman Empire<\/i><\/b>, and near what appears to have been a small Jewish quarter inhabited by several Jewish families living in the town.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another intriguing detail: it seems that the church once hosted celebrations of the ancient Greek-rite liturgy of Catholic origin, which disappeared from the region in the early 19th century. This theory may be supported by traces of <\/span>Byzantine-style paintings*<\/i><\/b> still visible today.<\/span><\/p>\n

* Byzantine art, primarily found in icons and mosaics, features stylized, gold-laden depictions of sacred figures, emphasizing spiritual reverence over earthly realism.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Church of the Madonna del Curato in Ugento rises on a gentle hill, along the road that was named after the sanctuary itself. The small church dates back to the 14th century and was later rebuilt in two phases: the first between the late 1500s and early 1600s, after a fire; the second in … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-presidi-of-public-beauty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prolocougentoemarine.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prolocougentoemarine.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prolocougentoemarine.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prolocougentoemarine.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prolocougentoemarine.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2366"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.prolocougentoemarine.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2451,"href":"https:\/\/www.prolocougentoemarine.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366\/revisions\/2451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prolocougentoemarine.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prolocougentoemarine.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prolocougentoemarine.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}