Minor Basilica of Maria SS. Immacolata

There are many good reasons to visit the Minor Basilica of Maria SS. Immacolata, the oldest church in Catanzaro. One of these is certainly the wooden statue of the Virgin, more than two metres high and wrapped in a red silk dress with silver and gold embroidery. They call her the ‘’Madonna of the niche‘’ because of the arrangement she has inside the Shrine.

The building stands in the heart of the city's historical centre. Built in the Middle Ages, in 1252 it was entrusted to some friars. Later, when the space was no longer sufficient to house the religious community, the friars and the Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception ordered the reconstruction of a new church, which was then inaugurated in 1763. Its Baroque façade with its three-storey bell tower invites you to enter, to discover the treasures those walls hold.

The interior of the church is in the shape of a Latin cross with three wide naves, and there you can admire suggestive frescoes from the Cefalù school. Beautiful altars in Baroque style and made of polychrome marble embellish the side chapels. But the church's special feature is its dome: octagonal on the outside while seen from the inside its shape is cylindrical.