Nostra Signora Della Salute

This guide to Nostra Signora della Salute, the sandstone church above Volastra in Cinque Terre, follows a local legend about hiding the church bells from Saracen raiders. It traces why the terrace-farming villagers of this olive-scented hillside had one thing worth protecting besides their groves, and the stranger who turned up at the church door generations later claiming to know where the bells lay. You will also hear about the plain ogival portal first recorded in twelve forty and the Baroque interior behind it. Stand at the doorway and look up at the bell tower the farmers still point to on stormy nights.