Entering Giungano, set between the narrow paved alley that cuts the town in half along its entire length and the new road that laps its southern shore, stands the mother church dedicated to the Assumption, patron saint of the town. to its dark wooden door framed in rough limestone, on which a strange niche, half tympanum and half lunette, houses a fresco of the Virgin now ruined by time, on which a small rose window holds out. For the rest, the façade, plastered in white, is simple, bare, the gabled profile, the tile roof. The building dates back to the 15th century and was restored by Bruno Ceraso in 1986. Outside, you can guess the structure: longitudinal plan, sacristy and bell tower on the left of the rectangular apse; two domes, respectively on the apse and on the sacristy; covering of the domes and the bell tower in metal plates. Inside, a discreet light pervades the environment with amber reflections, spreading from the four splayed windows, placed high up, on the right side of the single nave. Above the entrance, a balcony, which is accessed via a metal spiral staircase, houses an ancient organ in poor condition, probably the same one already known in the pastoral visit of 1689. The ceiling is trussed. and a large canvas depicting the Assumption of Mary is suspended from it. On the sides of the nave there are several wooden niches with statues of Saints and fourteen bas-reliefs depicting the Via Crucis, also in wood, sculpted by Giuseppe Ceraso, together with the pulpit on the presbytery (offered by the De Marco family in memory of their son Giuseppe).
On the left side we find:
- a statue of S. Antonio, dated 1921 and donated by Mr. Dante Guglielmotti;
- a statue of the Heart of Jesus, donated by Mrs. Rachele Colangelo in 1936;
- a statue of St. Alphonsus with cloth vestments, donated by the people of Jungle in 1825.>
On the right side:
- a stone stoup, built into the wall;
- a statue of the Virgin, restored by the painter Giannella in 1942;
- a large crucifix;
- a papier-mâché statue of the Addolorata;
- a stucco altar with the coat of arms of the Picilli and Stromilli families and a canvas depicting St. Lucia and the apparition of the Virgin, donated by the Passaro Nicola fu Ettore and Stromilli families in 1986;
- a statue of the Archangel Gabriel donated or restored by the Picilli family;
At the bottom of the building, a large arch divides the nave from the presbytery, from which it is possible to access, on the left side, the bell tower and the sacristy. On the apse a small dome opens to the sky, illuminated by the central lantern and by two openings on the tambour. The presbytery houses an ancient wooden choir, which depicts scenes from the life of Mary and Jesus; on the marble tabernacle, like the beautiful altar that was leaning against it before the 1980 earthquake, a Last Supper. Above, surrounded by twelve small angels and the dove of the Holy Spirit (a "light wood" frame in which angels and dove, in the round, form a pointed arch, added to the ancient statue of the Virgin, with its recent restoration), the beautiful statue of the Virgin, with elegant and very delicate features, dominates the apse, flanked by the busts of Mary and Joseph. In the sacristy, a marble plaque attests to the presence of a tomb from 1826.
Translated by Google •
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