Mother Church in Cianciana
The Mother Church of Cianciana, also known as the Church of the Santissima Trinità, is the main religious building of the village.
The original religious building, dating back to around 1500, was located in a different position compared to the current structure: it was located in Corso Vittorio Emanuele on the corner with via Fidanza. The small church soon proved to be unsuitable for the growing number of the population and the current Mother Church was thus built. Today the ancient church no longer exists, in its place there is a building used as a parish cinema.
The new Mother Church was built in 1640 at the behest of Baron Girolamo Ficarra and completed by the noble family of Prince Diego Ludovico Joppolo Spatafora. Over the centuries it was remodeled and enlarged, in 1823 the two side naves were added.
The façade, in neoclassical style, is divided into two orders by a stringcourse frame and punctuated by three pairs of pilaster strips. On the first level there is the main door, flanked by two pilasters and surmounted by a tympanum, and the two smaller side doors. On the second order there is a central body surmounted by a tympanum with a large window, and a single bell tower on the right side of the building.
The interior is divided into three naves by large pillars on which are attached a pair of Ionian style pilasters and naturalistic stucco work in the interspace. The vault of the central nave was frescoed by the painter Carmelo De Simone in 1839.
Among the works of art kept in the church, of particular value are: a valuable wooden crucifix; the statue of Saint Anthony of Padua by the famous sculptor Filippo Quattrocchi; the marble statue of the Madonna Libera Inferni from the Gagini school.
Attached to the body of the church is the oratory of the Santissima Addolorata and the Santissimo Crocifisso, built in 1741. It houses the valuable canvas of the Deposition, the work of Father Fedele Tirrito.
