Sign language
The story translated into Italian Sign Language by an interpreter.
Madonna del Monte
Palmariggi
Listen, watch, mark
The Madonna del Monte of Palmariggi stands on a small hill at the entrance of the village, to the east, in a place that history remembers as Monte della Guardia: here, they watched over the entire Terra d'Otranto, threatened by the Ottoman incursions of the late fifteenth century. Popular tradition, however, calls it Monte Iuzzo, from the Latin Monte di Giove, recalling an ancient temple dedicated to the father of the gods that is said to have stood right at this spot, perhaps frequented even in Roman times.
The chapel we see today, facing west, was rebuilt in the mid-nineteenth century by Donna Carmela Elia Modoni on the ruins of an older building, which in turn was erected where it is said the classical temple once stood. Inside, the fresco on the altar houses the image of the Virgin of Constantinople, here venerated as Madonna del Monte. Every first Tuesday of March, the day of her feast, the community of Palmariggi still makes a pilgrimage here, combining mass, prayer, and a communal lunch in the surrounding olive groves: a tradition now maintained by the volunteers of the Pro Loco.
The chapel we see today, facing west, was rebuilt in the mid-nineteenth century by Donna Carmela Elia Modoni on the ruins of an older building, which in turn was erected where it is said the classical temple once stood. Inside, the fresco on the altar houses the image of the Virgin of Constantinople, here venerated as Madonna del Monte. Every first Tuesday of March, the day of her feast, the community of Palmariggi still makes a pilgrimage here, combining mass, prayer, and a communal lunch in the surrounding olive groves: a tradition now maintained by the volunteers of the Pro Loco.