A territory of grace : Lampedusa during early modern times

Abstract

On the facade of a monastic church owned by the Discalced Carmelites at Cospicua, one of the cities overlooking the Grand Harbour of Malta, lies a statue of a Madonna with the infant Jesus in her arms. It is sculptured in the classical iconography associated with the Madonna, very common in the Catholic world. This work would have passed unnoticed were it not for the fact that this statue, though old, is a replica of another very famous statue; that of Our Lady of Trapani. However, despite its history hardly anyone in Cospicua knows the connection between the Madonna of Trapani and their hometown, or its relevance to the history of the central Mediterranean in Early Modern times.