Church of St. Nicholas

The church of St Nicholas of Bari and the adjoining convent were built around 1580 for the devotion of Cristoforo Ceva Grimaldi and his son Gian Francesco, the first Marquis of Pietracatella, to accommodate the friars coming from the convent of Santa Maria del Pesco. At first isolated from the rest of the town, the complex, of which only the church and a few rooms connected to it (hermitage) remain today, was held by the Augustinian friars of St Nicholas of Tolentino. The monastery was suppressed in 1653 by decree of Pope Innocent X, and in 1696 it was transformed into a Spedale (also called Spedale nuovo) for the reception of travellers and pilgrims. The church, consecrated by Cardinal Vincenzo Maria Orsini in 1705, consists of a single nave. It once had six minor altars, which have now disappeared, but the wooden choir stalls with the organ built by Elia Favorito of Naples in 1894 remain. In the small bell gable, located on the right side of the façade, hangs the bell that belonged to the former convent of Santa Maria di Pescarello, cast around 1564. A Confraternity was also dedicated to the Saint of Bari, established in 1891 and dissolved in 1937 due to lack of members.