Europe
Italy
Molfetta
church of Saint Dominic

A brief description.

Molfetta is a city and commune of the province of Bari in the southern Italian region of Puglia, on the Adriatic coast. It has a well restored old city, and its own dialect.
The first official document that mentions the city dates to November 925; it documents a civitas denominated Melfi, situated on a peninsula named Sant'Andrea. The city developed under Byzantine dominion, and was later conquered by the Lombards, who included it in the Duchy of Benevento. The city repelled repeated assaults by the Saracens. As an independent seaport, Molfetta traded with other Mediterranean markets, including Venice, Alexandria, Constantinople, Syria, Amalfi and Dubrovnik.
At the beginning of the eleventh century the Normans arrived, and the autonomy that the city preserved helped foster its development as both a commercial port with the east, and as port of embarkation for pilgrims heading to the Holy Land.
During the Crusades and the standstill of the same near the Santa Maria dei Martiri hospital permitted the city to assume a wider importance. Among the many pilgrims was Conrad of Bavaria (c. 1105-1154), who was so enamoured of the city that he became venerated as, San Corrado, the protecting saint of Molfetta.
During the Angevin dominion the city succeeded in remaining autonomous. However, the arrival of the Aragonese kingdom to Southern Italy, spurred turbulent struggles between French, Spanish and Italians. These wars provoked death and destruction in the whole south of Italy: the Sack of Molfetta at the hands of the French, 18-19 July 1529, was an episode that stalled the economic rebirth of the city.

                                 The church of Saint Dominic

            The Baroque church of Saint Dominic was built between 1636 and 1699  when the church was consecrated. The façade is decorated with the statues of Catherine of Alexandria and Mary Magdalen, patroness of the Dominican order. In the church the painting of the Madonna del Rosario (il Santissimo Rosario) with Saint Dominic by Corrado Giaquinto (08.02.1703-1766).

Source: Wikipedia.  Image  Mros 256.

Philately

Anniversary of the parish of Saint Dominic in Molfetta.

Italy 1990 ?. Postmark 14.01.1990 ?. 

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