The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary lies in the district where, before 1627, there was the convent of the Fathers Preachers of St. Dominic dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
This, as Antonio Lucchino, local historian, told, was "small and ... with a very little input, which may can come in a Friar and a lay brother. The bell tower, the bell and the Church are fairly narrow ". The small church was composed of a nave and covered with a roof without ceiling. It had a single stone altar set against the wall and on a large painting of the Virgin of the Rosary with the fifteen “mysteries paintings” around. So it is described by Nicola Pitta, another local historian in his book "Apricena".
The congregation then decided to erect on the same place a new church, wider and more responsive to the needs of the vast district that was developing. Demolition work began April 21, 1914 with design by Pasquale De Peppe, local historian and with the signature of the surveyor by Michele Pertosa. On 28 May 1914, with the Prefectural Commissioner, Dr. Michele Amendola, the Advocate Raffaele Ciacca and the parish priest Don Giovanni Traino, the first stone of the new church was laid.
The church, in its present shape, occupies a trapezoidal block bounded to the west by Via Vittorio Veneto, to the east from Via B. Buozzi, to the north Viale A. Moro and south Via Cairoli.
The shape of the building is the union of two volumes: one is rectangular, the same of the original church and next to it there is an outbuilding which houses the parish hall. Fairly smooth and flat, the church dominates the large opposite space.
The front facade is on the west. Five steps curvilinear in Apricena stone (newly built, 1996) lead to the center where a wooden portal with very essential lines is encircled by two columns in local stone, in a plester Corinthian, supporting a small gable with an inlaid profile with at the center a semicircular mosaic depicting St. Joseph made in 1976 to replace the old wooden panelling.
Above the opening, there is a modest rosette made of glass baked at high temperature and lead to the iron frame, made in the same year, 160 cm in diameter depicting the emblem of San Bernardino. The gable profile is broken by a high pediment place centrally divided into five narrow niches supported by small columns. The latter, is crowned above the sides by lobed arches, surmounted by a torus molding and finally a band indented under the eaves. Four pilasters outside clarify the distribution of the interior space made of a single nave.
The facade initially appeared plastered with lime milk in ocher colour except the white pilasters and the stone plinth at the bottom.
Recently, the facade has been work of "restoration".
The entrance has a wooden structure that serves as entrance hall with three doors, two side entries and a larger entry in the center in correspondence to the only nave. Above, at the height of 3.40 m, there is the choir made from a loft of 2.40 m X 7.70 m where you can enter via a steep ladder on the right side of the entrance.
On the left side entry there is the baptismal font in white marble set in a small niche covered with a mosaic commissioned to the firm MELLINI of Florence in 1976 . The church has a single nave, this means that the view at the entrance is captured immediately (also because of the small size) from the apse. The organization of this area included a balustrade (probably made of stone) that separated the presbitery zone from the hall and in the background the altar (presumably also in stone) placed against at the base where it was placed the tabernacle and above the statue of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary with her feet kneeling St. Francis and St. Clare. This structure is present at least until 1964. Now, the presbytery, as before, is raised by three steps at that time in cement tiles, now in granite as well as the flooring of the whole church.
This, as Antonio Lucchino, local historian, told, was "small and ... with a very little input, which may can come in a Friar and a lay brother. The bell tower, the bell and the Church are fairly narrow ". The small church was composed of a nave and covered with a roof without ceiling. It had a single stone altar set against the wall and on a large painting of the Virgin of the Rosary with the fifteen “mysteries paintings” around. So it is described by Nicola Pitta, another local historian in his book "Apricena".
The congregation then decided to erect on the same place a new church, wider and more responsive to the needs of the vast district that was developing. Demolition work began April 21, 1914 with design by Pasquale De Peppe, local historian and with the signature of the surveyor by Michele Pertosa. On 28 May 1914, with the Prefectural Commissioner, Dr. Michele Amendola, the Advocate Raffaele Ciacca and the parish priest Don Giovanni Traino, the first stone of the new church was laid.
The church, in its present shape, occupies a trapezoidal block bounded to the west by Via Vittorio Veneto, to the east from Via B. Buozzi, to the north Viale A. Moro and south Via Cairoli.
The shape of the building is the union of two volumes: one is rectangular, the same of the original church and next to it there is an outbuilding which houses the parish hall. Fairly smooth and flat, the church dominates the large opposite space.
The front facade is on the west. Five steps curvilinear in Apricena stone (newly built, 1996) lead to the center where a wooden portal with very essential lines is encircled by two columns in local stone, in a plester Corinthian, supporting a small gable with an inlaid profile with at the center a semicircular mosaic depicting St. Joseph made in 1976 to replace the old wooden panelling.
Above the opening, there is a modest rosette made of glass baked at high temperature and lead to the iron frame, made in the same year, 160 cm in diameter depicting the emblem of San Bernardino. The gable profile is broken by a high pediment place centrally divided into five narrow niches supported by small columns. The latter, is crowned above the sides by lobed arches, surmounted by a torus molding and finally a band indented under the eaves. Four pilasters outside clarify the distribution of the interior space made of a single nave.
The facade initially appeared plastered with lime milk in ocher colour except the white pilasters and the stone plinth at the bottom.
Recently, the facade has been work of "restoration".
The entrance has a wooden structure that serves as entrance hall with three doors, two side entries and a larger entry in the center in correspondence to the only nave. Above, at the height of 3.40 m, there is the choir made from a loft of 2.40 m X 7.70 m where you can enter via a steep ladder on the right side of the entrance.
On the left side entry there is the baptismal font in white marble set in a small niche covered with a mosaic commissioned to the firm MELLINI of Florence in 1976 . The church has a single nave, this means that the view at the entrance is captured immediately (also because of the small size) from the apse. The organization of this area included a balustrade (probably made of stone) that separated the presbitery zone from the hall and in the background the altar (presumably also in stone) placed against at the base where it was placed the tabernacle and above the statue of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary with her feet kneeling St. Francis and St. Clare. This structure is present at least until 1964. Now, the presbytery, as before, is raised by three steps at that time in cement tiles, now in granite as well as the flooring of the whole church.
