![](https://turismo.cittametropolitana.pa.it/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/11/la-catena-enzo.jpg)
Read Italiano version
- Visite:Tutti i giorni (daily) h 10.00am/6.00pm domenica (Sun) 2.00 pm/06.00pm – il 24 Dic. h 10.00am/2.00pm; il 31 Dic h 10.00am/ 2.00pm; il 01 Gen. h 2.00pm/6.00pm
Chiuso (closed) 25 Dicembre e 15 Agosto Ticket. Circuito del sacro. Sito web: www.amicimuseisiciliani.it mail
- Ticket: Circuito del sacro. Sito web: www.amicimuseisiciliani.it
- Contatti: tel. 091 611 81 68 –
*ENGLISH
The building is a majestic example of Gothic-Catalan style mixed with Renaissance elements.
It rises on the top of a high staircase and displays a porch under which you can admire three bas-reliefs by Vincenzo Gagini, which decorate the church doors depicting episodes of the New Testament. It was built between the late ‘400s and early’ 500s, its construction continued for a few decades.
The church was built in the place of a votive chapel on a gentle embankment in the southern part of the harbor.
At the time of the construction, the part of the Cassaro on which it rises did not exist because the so-called “Cassaro dead” was opened in 1581, so the building was connected with the new road layout, thus creating the staircase and a side loggia at the central porch which is no longer existing because it was eliminated in 1845.
The church was planned and structured by Matteo Carnalivari, renowned Renaissance architect of Catalan culture, who designed the loggia on the western front and every detail of the building. The loggia of the facade which is enclosed by stout pillars showing the three orders, is composed of polycentric arch vaults on high round arches with deep frames, and it is enclosed horizontally by a cymatium, a perforated and cladding stone cornice.
The church with its porch and its exterior masonry became a model for other contemporary buildings. The interior displays three aisles with two transepts and two apses. The multifaceted ribs of the cross vaults, The dome cladding with the star shaped vault, the apses covered with umbrella shaped vaults create different effects of brightness and make the set harmonious and extremely elegant.In the centuries of Baroque Art, the church was decorated with stuccoes by Serpotta, and then removed after the last war. In the east nave, there are three Baroque altars and a deep chapel dedicated to the Madonna della Catena. Recently a 14th-century Madonna painting was brought to light; it was under a 16th century painting.
On the altar of this chapel is a stone canopy and to the sides of the niches the statues of S. Margherita and S. Ninfa.
The Madonna of the third chapel comes from the ruined parish church of San Niccolò to Kalsa.
Olivio Sozzi, a renowned Sicilian painter in 1743, decorated some chapels with scenes from the life of Jesus and Mary.
Marble plaques, monumental sarcophagi, statues and much more document the long history of the building.
Outside, once, there was the Porta della Doganella and the equestrian monument of Filippo V, by G. B. Ragusa and the pedestal which supports the monument is by Archt. Paolo Amato.
- Address: Piazzetta delle dogane
- Visits: daily h 10.00am/6.00pm Sun 2.00 pm/06.00pm – 24 Dic. h 10.00am/2.00pm; 31 Dic h 10.00am/ 2.00pm; 01 Gen. h 2.00pm/6.00pm. Closed 25 December and 15 August Ticket Circuito del sacro. Sito web: www.amicimuseisiciliani.it mail: info@amicimuseisiciliani.it Ticket
- Sito web: www.amicimuseisiciliani.it.
- Contact: tel. 091 611 81 68