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Guide to your stay in Sciacca

Church of Santa Maria of Itria

The church of Santa Maria of Itria was founded in 1380 by Count Guglielmo Peralta but was rebuilt in 1776, and is the most important monumental complex of the city. The façade is very simple but is embellished by the overlying porch and the attic in Baroque style. Below is a beautiful doorway, in which above the arch both on the right and on the left we find two carved heads.

Entering inside, the church has a single aisle with six chapels, three on each side and is very rich in pure gold decorations. Starting from the right aisle, in the first chapel we find the altar with the canvas of Saint Scolastica, in the second chapel is the canvas of Saint Benedict. In the third chapel we find the canvas with the death of Saint Joseph. On the high altar in baroque style marble with scrolls and angels on the sides, there is a canvas dedicated to Santa Maria of Itria. On the side walls there are two paintings: on the right the guardian angel and on the left Saint Michael. On the walls on the sides of the altar we see two windows with an iron grid called “communiqués” from which the nuns received communion. Further on both sides we find two balconies from which the most prominent people of the city attended the mass. All around the church there are “gelosie” (goose breast grates) with from which the cloistered nuns attended the mass. Continuing on the left in the first chapel we find the statue of the sorrowful, in the second chapel the canvas with the Madonna, Santa Elisabeth and baby Jesus. In the third chapel is the canvas with the martyrdom of St. Euphemia.