At the foot of the hill of Botromagno and of the archaeological site known as “Padre Eterno“, stands the cave church of Madonna Della Stella, so-called because the interior contains a fresco of the Madonna and Child with a star on the Madonna’s forehead. The church has a simple interior consisting of a single room.
This sanctuary has probably always been an ancient place of worship, originally dedicated to a pagan ancestral fertility cult, and then replaced by the Christian cult of the Virgin Mary. The fact that the Christian cult remained strongly linked to the pagan fertility cult is shown in a legend, which survived for centuries. According to this, women and couples who couldn’t become pregnant would visit the sanctuary of Santa Maria della Stella, and then be granted a miracle birth. The fact that, in reality, the orgiastic rites previously practised there contributed to the happy outcome of the miracle, a clear revival of the Eleusinian rites in honour of Demetra, is also confirmed by the abolition of these practices by Monsignor Cavalieri. In 1693, he ordered that “all the churches should be closed at dusk, especially the one known as Della Stella, is consecrated to Our Lady the Virgin Mother of God, on her feast day, so that access will be forbidden to the ancient abuses that have not yet been sufficiently overcome, since men and women promiscuously go there at all hours of the night for revelry with songs and rhythmic chants” (from the Diocesan Archives of Gravina, Synod, 1693)
Another variation on the Eleusinian chants, and a further link to the fertility cult, was the custom, which stayed in fashion until the middle of the 20th century, of celebrating the good harvests with so-called “bilanci”, through copious libations that took place on the flat meadow above the church. The discovery of 17th to 20th century ceramic wine pitchers, in the cistern inside the grotto, are clear signs of these propitiatory rites.