Church of Purgatory in Militello in Val di Catania
Gimalgi73 - CC3.0
The Church of the Holy Souls of Purgatory in Militello in Val di Catania, dedicated to Saints Vito and Gregory the Great, is an important place of worship in the village.
The church is located in a dominant position from which you can enjoy a splendid panorama.
It was built in 1613 to replace the old church of San Vito, which stood on another site and is now in ruins. It suffered some damage following the earthquake of 1693 and was later renovated.
The facade has the same seventeenth-century design as the Church of the Chain, simplified only in the decorations: delimited by lateral pilasters, it has a crowning with a flat frame above the pilasters and a gabled frame on the central body; It has two doors side by side and a large upper window placed in a central position that creates a very balanced triangular pattern. The elegant carvings were made in 1690 by the Militello master builder Giacomo Barone.
The interior, with a single nave, is decorated with valuable and sumptuous polychrome stuccos from the seventeenth century with allegorical figures.
Of notable artistic value is the grandiose stepped high altar in pure gilded wood, surmounted by a small throne for the display of the Blessed Sacrament. The altar, not damaged by the earthquake of 1693, was made by master Vincenzo Giarracca, a carver from Caltagirone in 1617 and is dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory.
Among the other works kept in the church we remember: the statue of San Vito Martire by the sculptor Domenico Barone from 1680; the choir decorated with carvings where the organ is located.
