The Church of Suffragio

In Carrara, at the end of Via del Plebiscito, an apparently dead end street, closed on one side by the palaces and on the other by the walls of the ancient garden of the prince, stands the baroque facade of the Church of Suffragio also called “Church of Purgatory “so called because destined for prayer for the souls of the dead.

Its construction was started in 1688 on a project attributed to the Carrarese architect Innocenzo Bergamini, and then remodeled in the nineteenth century.
Designed according to the rules of the Council of Trent, that of Suffragio is the only church in Carrara with a Latin cross plan and a central dome covered with slate chippings as well as the only building in the city to be surmounted by a dome.

The simple masonry facade is enriched by a large marble baroque portal, created by the sculptor Carlo Finelli and surmounted by a bas-relief depicting the Madonna del Suffragio with purgative souls.

The interior is in typical Baroque style and rich in fine polychrome marble.
Closed and unused for most of the second half of the twentieth century, it was restored and reopened in the late nineties and intended for exhibitions, concerts, events.
Later it was entrusted to the Romanian Orthodox Community of Italy as a place of worship for the Romanian faithful residing in the province of Massa Carrara.