Church of Santa Venera in Acireale
The Church of Santa Venera in Acireale and the adjoining complex of the Conservatory of the Virgins embellish one of the oldest and most evocative streets of the city, the Via Dafnica.
The imposing complex of the Conservatory of the Virgins was founded on 23 January 1704 and completed in 1728. It was born as a place of shelter and education for young orphans, poor or deaf-mutes who were hosted until puberty, then received a dowry of 20 onze which they could use to choose life in a convent or marriage.
The church was built thanks to the bequest of the priest Paolo Modò dated 11 June 1727 and to the donations of the devotees, and built to a design by the architect Paolo Amico.
The façade of the church, divided into three orders by frames stringcourse, is punctuated by pilasters: three portals open on the first level. The central one, larger in size, is flanked by two columns with Corinthian capitals and surmounted by a curved tympanum. On the sides, the two portals are surmounted by oval windows; The second order, connected to the first via volutes, has a rectangular window surmounted by a triangular tympanum; the bell tower is located on the third order.
Despite the presence of the three portals suggests an interior with three naves, it instead has a characteristic elliptical plan.
The interior is embellished with a valuable cycle of sixteen panels in stucco work by Gioacchino Gianforma from Palermo and his son Giuseppe, and a fresco depicting the Glory of Santa Venera on the vault, the work of Giuseppe from Aci Greco.
Among the works kept in the church, of particular value is the canvas by the brothers Giuseppe and Francesco Vaccaro depicting The sermon of Santa Venera, from 1851.
