Mother Church in NAro
Davide Mauro - CC4.0
The Mother Church of Naro is an important place of worship and a place of historical interest in the village.
The Church, with the adjoining convent of the Society of Jesus, was founded by the will of Don Antonino Lucchesi, and by the work of Father Gaspare Paraninfo from Naro, a religious of the same order, in 1619 with the financial contribution of several noble families. The aim was to create in the centre of the city, along its longitudinal axis, where noble families built their palaces and created the Via Maestra or dei Monasteri (today's Via Dante Alighieri), an important college of studies directed by the Jesuit Fathers. Thus a flourishing school was born which, in terms of importance, was also compared to the University of Catania, the only one in Sicily at the time. Among its most illustrious students stands out the name of Bonaventura Attardi, author of the book Monasticism in Sicily. The school was closed in 1863, following the foundation of the Kingdom of Italy. In 1867, after the closure of the Old Cathedral, the church took the title of Mother Church.
The façade, divided into two orders by pilasters in living stone, is the result of a renovation carried out at the beginning of the twentieth century. The portal opens on the first order which, together with the upper part of the bell tower, represent the only remaining elements of the ancient façade. The sandstone portal, finely carved, takes on particular importance for its architectural form and decoration. On the sides of the portal there are two small windows which have replaced the two ancient side entrances. On the second order there is a large rectangular window with a small balcony and two side windows.
The interior, with three naves, is decorated with stuccoes and decorations by the rector P. Carlo Baldone da Naro from 1734.
The church houses valuable works, many of which come from the Old Cathedral: the baptismal font, dated 1484, by Nardo da Crapanzano; the marble statue of the Madonna della Catena, a work begun in 1534 by Antonello Gagini, and completed by his son Giacomo in 1543; the statue of the Madonna with Child called della Pace, dating back to the 14th century, from the Gagini workshop; a Crucifix in the act of dying, by P. Domenico Di Miceli; several paintings by Provenzani, among which the Annunciation stands out, a work from 1780 in which the influence of the master Vito D'Anna is evident; a Holy Family, a marble group from the Gagini school; a sumptuous "Cascerizzo", a work from 1725 by the Agrigento masters Gabriele Terranova and Giuseppe Cardillicchia, kept in the sacristy.
Annexed to the church was the Jesuit Convent, now partly demolished to make room for a school. The College was built around a large kiosk with a portico, of which today only one original side and one rebuilt side remain.
