Next to the tallest and most imposing building of the ancient Franciscan convent, formerly the town hall, and the church of San Francesco, it risks, if not going unnoticed, then not being considered among the unmissable places on the island.
Yet, the church of the Archconfraternity of Santa Maria delle Grazie or Visitapoveri absolutely deserves to be visited for the atmosphere in which you are welcomed and for the numerous and unexpected artistic beauties.
The church was built around 1614, when the Congrega di Visitapoveri was also established, later recognized as an Archconfraternity in 1829, with the aim of keeping alive the cult of the Madonna delle Grazie, to whom the church is dedicated, and of materially supporting, as well as than in brothers, anyone who needed it. A disastrous fire seriously damaged the structure and furnishings, but the brothers immediately afterwards began a restoration and equipped their church with even more significant works, which we still admire today.
The church has a characteristic double façade. The outermost, with a beautiful piperno portal, frames and closes the courtyard that gives access to the sacred building. The Mediterranean-style façade of the latter is surmounted by the arches that support the two bells and by pyramidal masonry obelisks. It also has a median. Then there is the dome that rises above the altar.
The church has a rectangular plan, with a single nave, with three orders of lateral wooden stalls with fine balustrades, as are often found in the places of the island's brotherhoods. The lack of seats in the centre highlights even more the wonderful majolica floor decorated with naturalistic motifs by the great Ignazio Chiaiese. At the centre of the work, under the depiction of two brothers with characteristic blue cloaks absorbed in prayer, there is the date of creation, 1791.
The penumbra that characterizes the interior and gently welcomes you from the first steps, leaves room for the beam of light that comes from an evocative large window on the side of the apse, from which you can admire the sea and the Soccorso promontory. That harmony of light and shadow is the ideal setting for the paintings that stand out against the whiteness of the walls. These are mostly works by the Lacco Ameno artist Alfonso Di Spigna, who was also a brother and held the position of prior in 1754. Of great impact is the sequence of ovals which depict various moments in the life of the Madonna: Annunciation, Visit to Elizabeth, the Assumption, Immaculate Conception, Marriage of the Virgin, Nativity, Martyrdom of the Baptist and Assumption. By Di Spigna is the Madonna delle Grazie with Saints Giuseppe and Rocco, too. On the altar stands the canvas of The Baptist with the Redeemer, attributed to Anna Maria Manecchia or Guido Reni. The organ and the choir loft that stand out on the counter-façade above the entrance are also from the mid-eighteenth century.
In the adjacent sacristy, the gilded wooden statue of the Angel, sculpted in the Neapolitan workshop of Francesco Mollica in 1620, is kept in a glass case. Until a few years ago, before being replaced by a copy, the Angel animated the day at Easter the spectacular "Angel Run" on the main street of Forio, together with the wooden statues of the Risen Christ, the Madonna and Saint John by an unknown author, commissioned by the brothers in 1756.
