Church of Santa Maria del Rosario in Biancavilla
The Church of Santa Maria del Rosario in Biancavilla is one of the main religious buildings of the city.
Located in the central Piazza Roma, together with the basilica and civil buildings, it constitutes the monumental center of the city.
It was built around 1660 and originally dedicated to San Rocco. It was then enlarged during the following century.
The limestone façade with sculpted ashlars, the work of the Milanese architect Carlo Sada, dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. It features two pairs of monumental semi-columns, which crown the entrance portal, on which the architrave rests. The rectangular entrance door is surmounted by a round arch with glass window, where the bas-relief of a cherub stands out. Above the architrave is the archivolted tympanum broken by the bell tower, where the statue of the Madonna del Rosario is located. On the sides of the tympanum rest two praying angels.
The interior of the church, with a single nave, is in eighteenth-century Baroque style and features large Corinthian columns adorned with stuccos representing acanthus leaves.
Among the works kept inside he interior of the church of particular artistic and historical value is the eighteenth-century statue of Christ at the Column, a wooden work by the local artist Sac. Placido Portale.
