Church of Sant'Antonio Abate in Aidone
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The Church of Sant'Antonio Abate in Aidone is an ancient place of worship, of considerable historical interest, located at the eastern entrance to the town.
The construction of the church of Sant’Antonio Abate dates back to the late Norman period. According to tradition, the building was originally a small mosque, transformed into a Christian church by the Normans. It is believed that it was built on the remains of a pre-existing Byzantine building that had a characteristic three-apse plan, a rare example for Sicily. This hypothesis is supported by the presence of the remains of these lateral arms, the foundations of which are barely visible on the external sides of the side walls.
The pointed arch portal on the southern wall, now bricked up, and the small slits on its sides are believed to belong to the Byzantine period. The rear apse and the main portal, on the other hand, belong to the Norman period.
The simple façade has a single Norman portal, with a pointed arch made with sandstone ashlars alternating with white Comiso stone ashlars. It ends with a pointed arch that reveals the influence of Muslim workers working on the island. Above the portal there is a rectangular window. The façade is flanked on the right by the square-based bell tower built in the sixteenth or seventeenth century. It has two orders of single-lancet windows and is surmounted by a cusp covered with polychrome spherical elements of Moorish taste.
The interior, with a single nave, ends with a quadrangular presbytery.
Of great artistic and historical value is the
