Church of San Bartolomeo in Geraci Siculo
The Church of San Bartolomeo di Geraci Siculo rises outside the city walls.
The first news of the church's presence dates back to 1338, the year in which the count of Geraci Francesco I Ventimiglia was buried there. but it is believed that the Church was pre-existing because it brings back architectural elements that belong to medieval church systems in its original layout. The church was originally smaller and was oriented in the opposite way: it was accessed from the pointed arched archway at the base of the bell tower, now closed and used as a sacristy, according to a model referable to Norman architecture. In 1769 the church was enlarged, knocking down the back wall and changing its orientation.
In the church there is a very remarkable marble triptych dated mid-16th century and attributed to the workshop of the master Antonello Gagini. The triptych presents within an architectural frame, defined by pilasters with candelabra decoration, the sculptures of the Madonna and Child between Saints Bartholomew and James. At the Summit the Eternal Father is depicted with the world in his hand; in the lower part, in the center, the piety with the three Marys. On the sides in two medallions the Annunciation.
Among the other works, the wooden statue of San Bartolomeo, kept in a niche on the southern wall, attributed to the Li Volsi di Tusa workshop, dated to the early decades of the seventeenth century, should still be mentioned.
