Temperanza e Prudenza

Prudence, close companion to wisdom. Temperance, the art of leading.

I found these two 17th century guache paintings from the Divine Mysteries gracing a wall down in the crypt of the Chiesa del L'Immacolata Concezione which sits on a windy precipice on a southwestern promontory of Calitri. 

They were salvaged in the days or weeks following the 1980 earthquake that all but destroyed the original early 17th century structure. Every year at Christmas the ProLoco hosts a regional 'Presepiando' or Neopolitan cresch exhibit in the halls of the crypt. 

Artists participate from towns all around Alta Irpinia Campania and Bascilicata with their creative interpretations of The Feast of the Holy Family, while in the streets above, the town hosts their annual 'Presepe Viventi' on December 26th with live manger and 18th century village scenes played out in stone grottos and houses all around the Centro Storico.