Church of Maria SS. of the Rosary in Fleri - Zafferana Etnea
The Church of Maria SS. del Rosario in Zafferana Etnea is located in the village of Fleri and represents a valuable example of continuity between ancient and modern.
It is certain that a small church dedicated to Sant'Agata existed in Fleri since 1667. As the years passed, the small church soon proved inadequate for the growing number of the population and, in 1860, a new sacred building was built at the behest of Baroness Caterina Guttadauro Francica Nava of Bontifé. The new church was named after Maria SS. of the Rosary and S. Agata. The building was subjected to various calamitous events: earthquakes, floods, the war events of 1943 and, on 25 October 1984, a strong seismic shock made the nineteenth-century building definitively unusable. In 1990 it was then decided to build a new church next to the old sacred building.
Old and new construction merge together: the new building deliberately does not have a traditional main façade, with the aim of leaving the old nineteenth-century church role of noble façade.
The new building was built based on the architect's design. Ugo Cantone, with the aim of creating an itinerary, through a path of spaces, which symbolizes a journey of faith: there are three levels to which three symbolic meanings are associated.
The first stage in this journey of faith is represented from the cryptic area where the baptismal font is located: a large basin which is accessed by going down a few steps to symbolize that it is necessary to descend into death to re-emerge with Jesus Christ to new life. The baptistery is surrounded by four chapels with plastic figures where the salient moments of the history of salvation are illustrated. It is a place of meditation.
The second stage of this journey of faith is the room for the Eucharistic celebration. This space symbolically recalls the ancient church with three naves and transepts.
The last stop on this journey is the Matroneo, the environment of light and song, which prepares for the ascent towards the celestial liturgy. The Matroneo houses a large terracotta Crucifix, the work of Dino Cunsolo, which symbolically connects the earth and the sky.
