Church of San Nicola di Bari in Linguaglossa
The Church of San Nicola di Bari and the College of San Tommaso d'Aquino in Linguaglossa are a religious complex built in the modern era in the place where the ancient Church of San Nicola di Bari stood.
The complex was built in 1947 and is made up of two wings, in the center of which stands the church dedicated to San Nicola di Bari. At the time of construction an agreement had been stipulated between the then bishop of Acireale Salvatore Russo and the Dominican fathers: the bishop had donated part of the land but in exchange he had demanded that the ancient church not be destroyed. The Dominicans violated their commitment, demolished the old church and rebuilt it in the center of the new project. Of the ancient building only the lava stone portal and the statue of San Nicola di Bari remain.
The façade of the church, preceded on the outside by a colonnade, presents the portal in lava stone ashlars from the ancient building.
The interior, with a single nave, features a valuable baroque altar, coming from a church in Catania and brought to this building by the Dominican fathers, testifying to the importance they gave to this construction.
Among the works kept in the church of particular value are: a large altarpiece by the Neapolitan painter Sebastiano Conca, depicting the Madonna del Rosario with Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Dominic, coming from a church in Catania; the small door of the Eucharistic case which depicts the Crucifixion with St. Peter the Martyr on the sides, with palm and slashing knife on his head, St. Martin de Porres, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Dominic of Guzman, the Madonna and St. Thomas Aquinas with the theological summa, work by the Dominican Leonardo Gristina, executed in enamel on silver.
