Church of San Marco in Aidone
Morgantia07 - CC1.0
The Church of San Marco in Aidone is an ancient hermitage founded by some Knights Templar returning from the Holy Land.
It stands outside the town, in the Scalazza area, between Aidone and Borgo Baccarato, on the top of a hill. Today this area appears isolated but once it was the center of a Norman village that controlled the farmhouses located along the Pietrarossa river.
It was built in the year 1100, was dedicated to the Virgin and entrusted to Byzantine rite monks. In the sixteenth century it was the priory of Santa Maria del Baccarato. In the nineteenth century it was already private property. In 1991 the church was declared a monument of particular historical and artistic importance as it constitutes a rare example of the first Norman architecture in Sicily and has undergone important restorations. Next to the hermitage stands a rural building for the reception of pilgrims.
The exterior recalls the Commenda dei cavalieri di san Giovanni of the nearby Piazza Armerina. The church, with a single nave, has a central apse that is strongly pronounced on the outside, strictly oriented to the east, and two lateral apses created in the recess of the wall. It receives light through six ogival windows placed along the walls, from the ogive of the apse and from the rose window on the west façade. Of particular value is the portal located to the north.
The interior is devoid of decorations with the exception of the apse where it is still possible to admire traces of the original decorations.
The legend of the treasure of San Marco is linked to the Church of San Marco.
