Church of Santa Maria del Monte in Caltagirone
The Church of Santa Maria del Monte in Caltagirone, the first historic Mother Church of the city, is located at the top of the famous Staircase of Santa Maria del Monte, in the oldest part of the town.
It was built in 1606, satisfying the need to directly join the Mother Church with the Town Hall; it was subsequently restored and embellished with motifs that reflect the various styles that have characterized the art of ceramics in Caltagirone over the centuries.
The facade has two superimposed orders connected by sober scrolls. A greater articulation is denoted in the central part of the façade where the portal and the overlying central serliana window are inserted, enriched by the presence of free columns. The lower order has two symmetrical portals that allow access to the side aisles, with an elliptical window above. The façade, which was made entirely of carved stone, ends with a curvilinear pediment.
The church has a basilical Latin cross plan with three naves separated by paired columns. The central nave is covered by a barrel vault, with joining nails to the side windows, each side aisle is divided into 5 sections with an elliptical dome covering on pendentives. The vault of the central nave is decorated with frescoes depicting Biblical Heroines, Rebecca, Abigail, Judith and Esther, in which the church tradition has seen prefigurations of Mary, whose image is painted in the vault of the presbytery, and made in the first half of the nineteenth century by the Vaccaro brothers.
Among the works kept inside, of great value are: the marble statue Madonna del psterio attributed to Domenico Gagini of 1492; the altar of the presentation of Mary in the Temple with the Gentilizio coat of arms of the Boscarelli Sturzo family; the wooden statue made in 1592 by the artist Paolo Nigro present the altar of Christ to the Column.
The Church of Santa Maria del Monte is particularly dear to the citizens of Caltagirone as it houses the Sacred Image of the Madonna di Conadomini the whose devotion is expressed above all in the month of May entirely dedicated to the Cult of Mary. It is a panel that arrived in Caltagirone in the first half of 1200, painted on both sides: during the novena of the month of May and on special occasions, the Byzantine image of Maria SS. with the Baby Jesus in her arms; on the back and instead depicted the Dead Christ rising from the sepulcher, with the wood of the cross behind, which is exposed during the period of Lent and the month of June.
Throughout the month of May the Church is filled with Faithful which pay homage to the Patron Saint of Caltagirone.
