Church of San Giuseppe in Acireale
The Church of San Giuseppe in Acireale is a small building of worship located in the heart of the historic center of the city.
It was built in 1643 at the behest of the brotherhood of San Giuseppe, and is today located at the top of the street of the same name which however built only in 1644, and which took its name from the church. The church was opened for worship while still incomplete in 1693 and completed in 1698.
The façade, in white stone from Syracuse, is divided into three orders by string course frames: the first order is marked by the presence of three pairs of columns with capitals Corinthians framing the portal; on the second order, three pairs of columns with Corinthian capitals frame a rectangular window with balustrade, surmounted by an arched tympanum; on the third level there is the bell cell with two lights, flanked by two statues of saints and surmounted by the iron cross.
The interior, with a single nave, houses valuable works: the canvas depicting the Transit of San Giuseppe, a work by the Acien painter Giacinto Platania; the canvas of San Vito, the work of Alessandro Vasta, son of the more famous Pietro Paolo Vasta; the wooden statue of San Giuseppe, the work of Ignazio Castorina Canzirri, considered the greatest Acinese sculptor of the eighteenth century.
