Position: Marina della Lobra
The Church of the Madonna della Lobra dominates the seaside village of the same name: Marina della Lobra.
The works for the construction of the church began in 1528 and ended in 1564, as evidenced by the epigraph on the entrance portal. For the construction of the sanctuary, some elements of the ancient church were reused. This ancient church dates back to the early centuries of Christianity and stood near the sea, on the pier of the beach of Fontanella.
The interior of the Church of the Madonna della Lobra has three naves with a transept, dome and apse. The eighteenth-century ceiling of the central nave is made of octagonal wooden coffered with gilded frames. In the center, the Assumption is depicted among figures of little angels and below is the scene of the marina with boats. On the sides, a canvas depicts a St. Anthony of Padua with a child holding out the lily and another canvas depicts St. Francis of Assisi who hands the rules to Santa Chiara.
Above the marble altar there is a fresco depicting the image of the Madonna della Lobra, a work by an unknown person, in an aedicule. The fresco comes from the ancient church, where it was placed on the central wall. The Madonna is painted under the title of “Lobra”, a conversion of the Latin word delubrum that is “temple”. For the great veneration paid to this Marian image in 1306, the Lobra attribute was also given to the city of Massa Lubrense and the image of the Madonna itself was depicted in the municipal coat of arms.
In the two side aisles there are four chapels, two of which are of particular importance: the Chapel of the Crucifix with the Magdalene and St. John the Apostle on the sides and the Chapel of St. Anna enriched and adorned with Baroque stucco. The facade is from 1689.
Attached to the church is the convent, built in 1583. Two lay religious bodies currently coexist at Lobra: the Franciscan Third Order and the Confraternity of St. Anthony of Padua, which actively collaborate with the friars and the parish.
The construction of the convent was completed in 1603. It is a rectangular structure with a beautiful cloister with a courtyard in the center of which we find a characteristic cistern. Along the walls of the cloister it is possible to admire some epigraphs that testify the donations in favor of the convent. Inside we also find a beautiful majolica refectory.
