Church of Santa Maria del Rifugio in Avellino

On Piazza del Popolo, in the old Carmine district known as the Triggio, stands the church of Santa Maria del Rifugio, built in 1712 on the site of a chapel of the Madonna del Carmine. It was the seat of the Monte dei Morti, and its churchyard hosted the city's main market. In the 19th century devotion to Saint Anne, protector of women in childbirth, grew, and in popular use the church took her name.The interior has a single nave. On the high altar we suggest looking at the Madonna del Rifugio with Saint Francis and Saint Anthony interceding for the souls in Purgatory, flanked by statues of Saints Cosmas and Damian and Saint Lucy. In front of the church a monument remembers the victims of the bombing of 14 September 1943. The feast of Saint Anne, on 25 and 26 July, includes the blessing of expectant mothers.