Pompeii, between the excavations and the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary
Pompeii, between the excavations and the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary. In Pompeii In Piazza Bartolo Longo, stands the famous sanctuary of the Beata Vergine del Rosario. At one time, this vast area called Campo Pompeiano. Basically it was a fiefdom belonging first to Luigi Caracciolo. Then then to Ferdinando d'Aragona until in 1593 it became the private property of Alfonso Piccolomini.
From this moment began an inexorable decline and ended only towards the end of the nineteenth century. With the arrival of a young Apulian lawyer, Bartolo Longo with the task of administering the assets of the Countess De Fusco. Bartolo Longo decided to engage in the popularization of Christianity and thus founded the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary in the church of SS. Salvatore, here began the collection to build the Sanctuary dedicated to the Madonna.
Pompeii, between the excavations and the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary: The Sanctuary
Pompeii, between the excavations and the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary: The Sanctuary, designed by the architect Antonio Cua took care of the work without compensation, it was consecrated on 7 May 1891. In 1901 it took over from Cua Giovanni Rispoli who supervised the work of the monumental facade which has its maximum artistic expression with the statue of the Virgin of the Rosary sculpted by Gaetano Chiaromonte in a block of Carrara marble.
In 1901 the sanctuary became Basilica papal by order of pope Leo XIII. Aristide and Pio Leonori designed the bell tower which has the entrance through a bronze door and is spread over five floors. The Basilica has three side naves. In the nave there is a dome 57 meters high. On the main altar it is exposed the painting of the "Virgin of the Rosary with the Child" with its gilded bronze frame.
The painting
The painting today is the subject of deep veneration and the story of its acquisition is truly strange. Purchased from a second-hand dealer from father Alberto Maria Radente belonging to the convent of “S. Domenico Maggiore ”who gave it to Bartolo Longo.
Then the painting brought to Pompeii by a carter on a mound full of manure.
At this point a young girl went to the shrine where she prayed there Madonna to recover from epilepsy; and this grace was granted, from this moment the church became a place of pilgrimage. Not far from the sanctuary is the house of Bartolo Longo. The upper floor is now a museum with prints, images and photos representing the eruptions of Vesuvius, as well as minerals and volcanic rocks.
Pompeii: not just religiosity
Pompeii: not just religiosity. The first excavations in the Pompeii area they date back to the age of the emperor Alexander Severus but the works failed due to the thick blanket of lapillus. It was only between 1594 and 1600 that excavations began to uncover traces of buildings, inscriptions and coins. However, a dramatic earthquake in 1631 canceled the results of these works.
Other excavations began in 1748 by order of Charles of Bourbon whose sole purpose was to enrich the museum of Portici.
The discoveries
the discoveries. These works directed by engineer Alcubierre but not yet carried out in a systematic and scientific way. However, in those years the excavations achieved important results: the Villa dei Papiri found in Herculaneum, in 1755 it was the turn of the Villa of Giulia Felice and in 1763 Porta Ercolano and an epigraph.
With Giuseppe Bonapart and G. Murat the road between Villa Diomede and other buildings, the Casa del Sallustio, the Casa del Fauno, the Forum and the Basilica came to light. As we have already said under the Bourbon domination the excavations of Pompeii were not carried out in a systematic way.
This becomes a prerogative only with the new Italian kingdom when the work is entrusted to Giuseppe Fiorilli.
For the first time the historic center has been schematically divided into agglomerations of houses and neighborhoods, while the techniques of recovery and conservation of the buildings and the artistic heritage reach extraordinary levels of effectiveness thanks to Antonio Sogliano and Vittorio Spinazzola. During the last century the main objective of Maiuri and Alfonso De Franciscis was to preserve the original architectural structure of the buildings and the murals inside them.
The 1980 earthquake slowed down these works but the new government allowed the realization of the “Pompei Project”, a program aimed at enhancing the entire archaeological area.