Statue of the Madonna della Neve

An example of the great Neapolitan school of sculpture in the sixteenth century

The statue, which adorns the main altar of the Cathedral, was previously located in the chapel of San Michele in the castle of Vibo, residence of the Dukes of Monteleone. 

Its current location was determined by the donation of the work to the mother church of Vibo by the Duchess Maria Caracciolo, in 1803. Its construction was decided by Ettore II, who, having taken over from his paternal grandfather in the leadership of the Calabrian fiefdoms, did not like the one created by Antonello Gagini's workshop after the artist's death. 

The authorship of the work has been traced by studies to the figure of Annibale Caccavello, a talented collaborator of Giovanni da Nola, a prominent sculptor and architect in Naples and the Kingdom, and, more recently, to his colleague Giovan Domenico d'Auria. 

Reaffirming the link with the artistic scene of the capital, studies have discovered the model for the creation of the statue, namely the Virgin and Child of the Pezzo altar in Sant'Anna dei Lombardi, created by Girolamo Santacroce between 1524 and 1525 It was a well known endeavor to the workshop of Giovanni da Nola, who had created the Ligorio altar right next to it in 1532, taking its style.