- BAIA: THE ASSUNTA SANCTUARY, THE "TOWER OF THE WISE MAN", SAN VITO CHURCH AND PIAZZA CORTUZZI -

Under the pity eyes of the MADONNA DELLA PACE (the "MADONNA OF THE PEACE", a sacre statue made of alabaster powder), the tourist can walk toward the Sanctuary after have paid attention to the monumental iron CROSS about 10 metres tall, that in the nigh time gets enlighted and it is visible from wherever in the Volturno's Valley.
Various local traditions and tells talks about the origin and the making of the SS. Assunta's Sanctuary: the old folks tells that the build of the Temple has been asked personally from the Virgin Mary to a town devout during a dream appearance. The Virgin also said that if the devouts woulda have build a temple She woulda have never let it fall or get damaged in the centuries and also that She woulda have watch over the town vicissitudes... Yearly, because of the cult that the citizens of the town shows for this Sanctuary, it's made up a folk feast: during this feast it happens that the whole very ancient saints statues kept inside the Sanctuary (Madonna Assunta, St. Cosma and St. Damiano, St. Lazzaro) are leaded in a typical procession that crosses all the street of the town.
Thanks to this immense devotion, the town immigrants from all over the world, send usually some donations that are usually employed to pay the maintenance expenses done for the care of the monument.
To visit the simple inside of the Sanctuary, it is necessary to ask for the keys from one of the local keepers...

Right behind the Santuary of the Assunta, ther's the TOWER OF THE WISE MAN or TOWER OF THE ASTROLOGER, so called because inside it probably lived a famous Astrologer. Some legends also tells that maybe downrightly the mighty NOSTRADAMUS stayed in the tower for a while (?!). But half the truth about this mysterious square tower builded far from the town and in a place absolutely out of the worl, it's probably all in the few words of the monk, historyan and traveller Gioacchino Antenori who, in one of his ancient volumes, relates about the construction, telling that inside it there was kept a perfectly equipped scientific laboratory that left him marveled and astonished as he saw it. In fact, lately (before the tower started to ruin) it has been found inside the tower some scientific tools (stills, alchemic equipments, etc.), some lenses and, first of all, a copy of the "PRONOSTICON" written' by Campanatus. The "Pronosticon", actually was a kind of a magic-esotheric-alchemistic and astrological compendium that confirmed the fact that inside the tower lived one of the most famous and powerful Astrologers and Alchemists of those times. He was so great and so potent that he predicted to Beatrice D'Aragona that she was goin' to become a Queen!! When the prophecy of the Wise Man from Baia came true, the Queen Beatrice D'Aragona asked him to go to live at her Royal Court in Naples, so that the tower was suddenly abandoned and left at its sad destiny...

Anyway, about the Tower of the Wise Man it's not the time to kid around no more: the whole buildinga is literally tumbling down piece by piece. In fact, since a lots of time it has got an unnatural shape that reminds an "N". This is partially due to the bombs falled on the tower during the Second World War, and partially due to the weather agents that has damaged it in about a permanent way.

Goin' down in Piazza Morrone, let's take the first road that goes down on our left side and let's follow it until reaching the wonderful view of PIAZZA CORTUZZI with its imposing STONE WELL. On one of stones placed on the front of the well, is chiseled (still perfectly visible) the year of its making: 1894.

Behind the well, there's the elegant PALAZZO BARONALE (Baron's Palace), that in the past, was a summer residence of some noble neapolitan families. Lately the palace has gone through various vicissitudes that, at the end, has bring it to a sad forsaken state.

While watching the well of Piazza Cortuzzi, let's take the road on our left side and let's walk for about a hundred metres. We're gonna get closer to the anciest Church of the town: the old S. VITO CHURCH (also patron saint of the town of Baia e Latina). The simple architecture of the temple has been restored various time in the years (..and one of this restoring, done about at the end of the '800 from the parish priest Fr. Domenico Comparone, is remembered by a round stone targe placed on the main façade of the temple..) but, unlucky, some of these works has progressively altered the original design of the temple. The original light rose colour of the façade (that 'til some year ago was still visible at least on the bell-tower), has been substitued by an "anonymous" and generic white painting... Also the interior of the Church has been modified in the years and this was mainly due because of some various thefts that has emptied the temple from its wonderful artistic works and paintings. Inside the Church are still kept some valuable Saints statues (some of it chiseled in the wood..): among the others, let's remember the statues of  S. Vito Martire - Patron Saint of the town - and S. Sebastiano.