Sanctuary of San Paolino in Sutera
The diocesan sanctuary of San Paolino is one of the places of worship richest in tradition in the area.
It rises on Monte San Paolino, which dominates a vast hilly area of the interior of the island, and from which you can enjoy a view truly unique: it is possible to see as many as 22 municipalities, the Agrigento coast, the peaks of the Madonie and Etna.
The Sanctuary is accessed via a characteristic road, carved into the rock with over one hundred and eighty steps. Along the way you can admire the stations of the Via Crucis and the prison in which Philip of Anjou, prince of Taranto and son of the king of Naples Charles II and Maria of Hungary, who was defeated by Frederick during the Sicilian Vespers III of Aragon and held prisoner first in Cefalù and then in the stronghold of Sutera.
According to tradition, the Sanctuary of San Paolino was built in 1370 by Giovanni III Chiaramonte, Lord of Sutera, using the materials of a fortress of Byzantine origin of which today no traces remain.
The diocesan monastery is a building with three naves, inside which are kept works of considerable value such as a cabinet-making work, with symbolic decorations, locked to the right of the presbytery, and two urns -reliquarium, among the most conspicuous expressions of the ancient Sicilian goldsmith's art: the urn of San Paolino, which in addition to keeping its relic also houses those of S. Archileone and S. Pietro martyr, and the urn of San t Onofrio which houses the relics of the Holy Anchorite.
The Sanctuary also houses the statues of S. Onofrio, built in 1979 and of San Paolino from 1937, both in wood and the Statue of the SS. Crucifix, in papier-mâché, dating back to 1923. Along the walls it is possible to admire 13 paintings depicting the Apostles and three paintings depicting Sant'Agata, Santa Cecilia and Santa Lucia. it once housed the Filipino Fathers. Higher up you can see the belfry, rebuilt in 1953 when the ancient bell was recast.
