Church of Immaculate Conception in Savoca
The Church of the Immaculate Conception of Savoca , today a philharmonic center, was built in 1621 by the conventual Friars Minor who had a convent in the immediate vicinity. The church was actually dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua but the people, from the very beginning, called it the "Church of the Immaculate Conception". Until 1940 it was open for worship, then it fell into disrepair. Some valuable works, such as a canvas of the Immaculate Conception by Gaspare Camarda from 1623, were placed in the nearby church of San Nicolò, where they can still be admired today. In 1998 it was beautifully restored and used as a municipal Philharmonic Center, during the restoration work the burials of the friars of the convent emerged from under the floor. This church also housed the tombs of the wealthy local families of the Trimarchi, Nicòtina and Cacòpardo, dating back to the early eighteenth century, embellished with valuable marble coats of arms and preserved today in the historical and ethno-anthropological museum of Savoca.
