Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Aragonese Castle

The path of the Sun led me to a small church with a rather complicated name, Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie o dell'ortodonico. The structure hangs over the eastern tip of the island, for which it has another name, Madonna della Punta (Madonna on the Cape).

When the church was founded, it is not known for certain, history only reports that it was used by a community of Greek fishermen. According to the design of the vaulted floors and dome, the structure can be attributed to Romanesque architecture, common in the 11th-12th century. The documents record that in the early 16th century the church was expanded by the efforts of the noble Donna Constantia Carretta.

After an artillery bombardment by an English squadron in 1810, the church was abandoned for almost 200 years and only recently restored. Therefore, there are no antiquities in it, instead of traditional images, the walls are decorated with cheerful paintings by the artist Clementine Petroni, whose work we have already met in Casa del Sole.

Only a small organ is present from antiquity, and even that, judging by the white wire, with an electric compressor instead of bellows.

To the right of the church, above a high cliff, there is a semicircular platform.

From here you can admire the blue expanse of the Bay of Naples with the islands of Vivara and Procida.

Before the construction of the Ponte di Ischia Bridge, it was this steep slope that led to a secret staircase, the only way to climb to the castle.

Almost nothing remains of the staircase itself, but the walls of the fortification and the small watchtower that guarded the entrance to the castle remain. On the site that served for the installation of cannons, the remains of a furnace intended for burning cannonballs were also preserved.

You can climb up to the Terrace of olive trees and look at the Romanesque vaults from above. They are pretty dirty with bird droppings.

As you know, the main danger to ancient structures comes from gulls, whose droppings destroy even concrete.