The church of San Rocco is located in via Don Luigi Maletta , in the historic center of Cosenza, near the banks of the river Crati.
The entrance
HISTORY
The church of San Rocco was built after the historical plague epidemic that struck Cosenza in 1656. The city had already been hit in 1576 by an equally serious epidemic and from which the cult of the Madonna del Pilerio was born. The date of construction of the church is shown in the inscription engraved on the architrave of the portal of the same:
"ERECTA TEMPORE PESTIS A.N.D. 1656 "
which unfortunately is not clearly visible today.
The same name of the building at San Rocco recalls its origin as "ex voto" linked to the disease. At the time of its construction the area was almost deserted. It was therefore initially used as a simple chapel and later became the seat of one of the various city confraternities, such as the confraternity of the Saints Crispino and Crispiniano. As evidence of this, in the arch on either side of the niche are the two saints, who were initially confused with the saints Cosma and Damiano.
Today the church assumes a mere symbolic value and is no longer used for liturgical celebrations.
THE FACADE
The building has a simple structure. The exterior is characterized by a rectangular portal in tufa, surmounted by a small window, coeval to the foundation as indicated by the inscription on the architrave, no longer visible, but flanked by two angel heads that still appear in good condition.
There is a small bell gable, also in tuff.
The facade of the church
The interior of the church, with a rectangular plan, appears to be very small.
On the ceiling there is a painting of the Immaculate, which, from an unreadable inscription, seems to date back to 1837.
Painting of the Immaculate
DESCRIPTION OF THE PAINTING
The painting on the altar depicting San Rocco is a recent work, which in 1977 took the place of the original fresco of 1813, unfortunately disappeared around the '30s.
Foreground of the fresco
THE STATUE
San Rocco is also depicted in a small nineteenth-century painting on the front of the wooden pulpit on the left wall and in a statue in the niche of the right wall.
Statue of San Rocco
The statue shows the Saint in pilgrim's clothes with a dog with bread in his mouth next to his iconographic attribute. The marble altar is also relatively recent, since, until 1936, there was a fixed gold-colored altar. There are also other statues representing icons related to the local cult.
- Photos and main text by Nicolò Malato moc.liamg|9976otalamolocin#| and Antonio Pucci moc.liamg|2oinotnaiccup#| (December 2018).
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