Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie

Sorrento


The oldest part of this 15th-century church is the apse, where you'll find Silvestro Buono’s 1582 polyptych above the altar. Its central panel depicts the Virgin with Child, St John the Baptist, St Dominic and the church’s founder, Berardina Donnorso. The paintings on the grates flanking the altar are by the late-baroque Neapolitan painter Nicola Malinconico, while those in the niches beside them are attributed to the workshop of prolific Mannerist painter Belisario Corenzio.

Keep an eye out for the 17th-century wooden statue of Christ crowned with thorns. Situated in a niche next to the transept, the statue is considered miraculous, having reputedly bled from its right leg in both 1720 and 1858. The church forms part of a convent built for a cloistered order of Dominican nuns.