Santa Ruba is a church located outside of the town of

San Gregorio d'Ippona San Gregorio d'Ippona () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vibo Valentia in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about southeast of Vibo Valentia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,2 ...

, Province of

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, Italy. It rises along SS 182 on the road towards Vibo Valentia. It is presently a Roman Catholic

Marian sanctuary A shrine to the Virgin Mary (or Marian shrine) is a shrine marking an apparition or other miracle ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or a site on which is centered a historically strong Marian devotion. Such locales are often the destination ...

dedicated to "Maria Santissima della Salute".

Description

The history of this church remains somewhat nebulous due to lack of documentation. It originally was attached to a

Basilian monastery Basilian monks are Roman Catholic monks who follow the rule of Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea (330–379). The term 'Basilian' is typically used only in the Catholic Church to distinguish Greek Catholic monks from other forms of monastic li ...

, which appears to have persisted until the 1908, when the monastery was abandoned due to damage from the

1905 Calabria earthquake Striking southern Italy on September 8, the 1905 Calabria earthquake had a moment magnitude of 7.2 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). The first major earthquake of the 20th century, it severely damaged parts of Lipari, Messina ...

. It is unclear when the church was built; some have suggested that its layout and dome indicate construction was completed during Byzantine rule of the region, perhaps as early as the 10th century. The present interior is due to refurbishments along the centuries, including a

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

refurbishment in the 18th century. Others claim the present layout dates to a reconstruction in 1610. The significance of the name ''Santa Ruba'' is also unclear. Some speculate it may derive from the church's location near a cliff (''rupe''). The church fell into ruin in the early 20th century, but decades later underwent restoration with reconsecration in 1977. Some of the original statuary had been rescued by local parishioners. The church has a semicircular apse connected to a dome with an octagonal drum. The nave is long, single and tall. The present interior appears to reflect the baroque refurbishments.Comune of San Gregorio d'Ippona
entry on church.

References

10th-century establishments in Italy Roman Catholic churches in Calabria {{italy-RC-church-stub