Oratory of San Rocco

The oratory of San Rocco was built in 1527, or in the years immediately following, during a terrible plague epidemic which ravaged the Teramo area. Among the rural churches of Controguerra, together with the Cona it is the only one to have survived to the present day without undergoing invasive restorations.

The facade has corner pilasters of a giant order, a brick pediment and a sloping roof. The portal and the three windows are framed by bricks. The side walls have rectangular windows and are in brick, like the apse. Among the bricks you can also see recycled stones; this is not surprising, given that near the area – sports field area – stood the Benedictine monastery of San Benedetto al Trivio.

The semicircular apse has a niche in the center where the statue dedicated to the saint was placed. The roof is trussed.

Inside the church today it has no particular architectural ornaments, but it was once frescoed, as evidenced by the ancient pastoral visits. In 1735 there was "a picture all in tatters with the image of St. Joseph and St. John" and the walls were frescoed with "the paintings of the Blessed Virgin and St. Rocco and grateful ladies". Sacred images, and frescoes in particular, were very common in these country churches, especially in those dedicated to San Rocco, because they welcomed plague patients outside the town: rural churches were real hospitals where, usually During epidemics, there was a friar who provided medical assistance and treatment to the sick, but prevented them from entering the country and spreading the infection.

The oratories – or churches – of San Rocco and della Cona have very similar structures. Until the first half of the 19th century, a third oratory dedicated to San Biagio existed in Controguerra, which must not have differed much from the surviving ones. The oratory of San Biagio was located in the district of the same name, north of the districts of San Giuseppe and San Giovanni.