Church of Santa Maria della Fontana in Petralia Sottana
The Church of Santa Maria alla Fontana in Petralia Sottana stands attached to a rocky p arete from which a source of water spontaneously emerges, which is then channeled into a cup-shaped fountain .
It was built in 1500 probably in the place where a mosque once stood, even if the current appearance is due to the renovations carried out in 1615, as documented by the inscription placed on the plaque above the portal.
The gabled façade has a small rose window with some concentric circles, which symbolizes the divine breath, and a portal with a round arch in the Gothic - Catalan style. The church portal was lowered in 1871 on the occasion of the construction of Corso Paolo Agliata. This made it necessary to build a staircase with two diverging flights to access the floor of the church. To the right of the sacred building stands the rectangular bell tower originally surmounted by a polychrome spire destroyed during an earthquake in 1818.
The interior has three barrel vaults resting on six Tuscan gray stone columns, surmounted by splendid capitals . In the cross, at the end of the middle nave, the main altar is arranged where in a leaden limestone niche there is the statue dedicated to the Virgin and Child from the Gaginian school.
Among the other works kept in the church, of particular interest are : the Pietà by the sculptor Francesco del Mastro, enclosed in a marble frame dated 1519; an organ from 1845 made by Pasquale Gueli.
