Church of the Santa Maria La Porta in Geraci Siculo
The Church of Santa Maria La Porta di Geraci Sicula is so called because the building was adjacent to one of the main urban gates of the city.
It was built starting from the middle of the 15th century by incorporating an earlier military factory, probably the castelluccio still with toponymy. It is still possible to observe traces of the ancient brick factory in the wall texture of the eastern side where three slits can be distinguished from the edges in, the crowning battlements, subsequently incorporated into the elevation of the wall, and an arched opening.
The front The northern part of the church has a stone portal formed by two Tuscan half-columns which support an entablature composed of the architrave, the pulvinated frieze and the frame with ovules and darts. The bell tower, built in 1611 by Gregorio de Messina and Antonio Gambaro, was crowned by a polychrome brick spire destroyed by lightning in the last century.
The church has a Latin cross plan and is accessed from a fine portal in white marble placed on the western side. It is defined by two slender semi-columns with plant motifs that support a frieze decorated with cherubic heads, on which rests a large lunette with the Madonna and Child. The interior is rich in frescoes on the ceiling from the nineteenth century with the representation of four scenes from the Testament.
Of particular value is the polychrome marble polyptych in the high altar of the sixteenth century by Gagini and a Christ deposed by the wooden cross positioned on the lintel of a window in conjunction with the bell tower.
