The Madonna di Pilario
In the 1800's, and quite possibly before that, the contadini folk of Cotugni, the area where my grandfather Pasquale D'Elia (and perhaps his father, too) was born, worshipped at a little church called the Madonna di Pilario. It was the private chapel of Barone Don Luigi Passalacqua, and he permitted his tenant farmers to worship in it. The church was located near the Case Cavaliere in the area called Ferrare. It was torn down, perhaps at the beginning of this century, and one might conjecture due to earthquake damage as Calabria suffered a strong one in 1905, to make room for the construction of Don Luigi Passalacqua's personal residence which stands there today.
The statue of the Madonna, inside the small church had come from Cosenza. Today, that statue occupies a place in the Madonna della Stella church in Scarcelli.
