Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Polizzi Genrosa
The Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie di Polizzi Generosa, also known as Badia Nuova to distinguish it from the Badia Vecchia or Church of Santa Margherita, is located in the district of Santa Maria Maggiore.
It was built in 1499 by the will of the Signorino family. This structure was born as a result of a dispute between the two noble families of Polizzi, La Mattina and Signorino, for the succession to the title of abbess of the Badia Vecchia. According to previous agreements, the new abbess was to be Sister Scolastica Signorino, but the La Mattina family managed, instead, to impose their own relative, Donna Lucrezia La Mattina. So it was that the Signorino family, to mitigate the insult immediately, had a new church and a Benedictine Apostle monastery built where Sister Scolastica Signorino was elected Abbess.
During the eighteenth century the church was subjected to a thorough restoration architectural which modified its structure and decorations according to the taste of the time, such as the closure of the windows in the upper part of the facade and the construction of a triangular-shaped closing tympanum with an adjoining turret bell tower with three openings all sixth and a decorative system composed of moldings.
Of particular value, on the main altar chapel, is the largest wooden case in Sicily, a pyramidal architectural structure with three orders with a terminal pediment , embellished with volutes, twisted columns, heads of winged cherubs, festoons, busts and statues of saints, sculpted by Pietro Bencivinni between 1697 and 1710.
Of interest is also the floor made with monochromatic rhomboid bricks in light blue and white dating back to the first half of the eighteenth century.
