Il culto di Santa Marina a Ruggiano e nel Basso Salento: tra pellegrinaggio devozionale e medicina popolare

Abstract

Ruggiano is a small village in southern Puglia. There stands a sanctuary dedicated to Santa Marina nowadays the center of a fervent worship by local population. The saint, whose iconography and hagiography still seem to be uncertain, was invoked, in particular, against the so-called "mal d'arco", a pathological condition causing jaundice and other diseases that cause a change in skin color. The essay will analyze the healing rite from this illness in the context of the worship of Santa Marina.