Mother Church in Montelepre
The Mother Church in Montelepre, dedicated to Maria Santissima del Rosario, is the main building of worship in the city.
In the place where the church stands today, there once stood a chapel dedicated to Santa Rosalia built in 1624 by Dan Tommaso Bellacera Marquis of Regalmici as thanks for having protected the village from the plague epidemic that had affected the whole of Sicily. In 1685 Maria di Bellacera Vanni, Marchioness of Regalmici, decided to have a small church dedicated to Maria Santissima del Rosario built around the oratory of Santa Rosalia. Over the centuries the building was subject to expansions and alterations: its current appearance dates back to the works carried out in 1862.
The façade is divided into three parts by columns surmounted by Corinthian style capitals. The two lateral parts have a convex shape which gives movement to the entire façade.
The interior, in the shape of a Latin cross, is divided into three naves by monolithic columns and Romanesque arches, and has five altars and ten chapels. The central nave is decorated with stuccos by Antonio Caponetti.
Among the works kept inside the church, of particular artistic value are: the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Crucifix which rests on a wooden walnut cork covered with bands of agate stone ; the canvases from 1863, by Giuseppe Carta or Antonio Caponetto, depicting Moses and Emperor Constantine II respectively; the canvas of San Andrea Apostolo from 1756; the choir and the wooden pulpit.
