Santo Spirito Abbey in Caltanissetta
The abbey of the Holy Spirit of Caltanissetta, located a few kilometers from the town, is an ancient church dating back to the Arab-Norman civilization.
The Santo Spirito Abbey in Piazza Armerina can be considered a great expression of European Romanesque culture like the abbey of San Giorgio a Gratteri, of the abbey of Sant'Andrea di Piazza Armerina, of the cathedral of Cefalù and cathedral of Monreale.
Commissioned by Count Roger and his wife Adelasia, the church was consecrated in 1153 and entrusted in the 1178 to the Augustinian canons regular, although it was only in 1361 that the series of abbots began. In this place, in the tenth century, the Arabs had built a fortified farmhouse, a massive rectangular building defended by a corner tower, for the surveillance and defense of the rich surrounding agricultural land: the structure still maintains some of this previous particular evident traces such as the thick walls, the loopholes, the quadrangular tower and finally the slit in the portcullis which served to protect the door.
The church has a single three-apsidal nave, three times the transverse dimension it represents the mystery of the Trinitarian unity: the three apse windows have their axes converging towards a single central focus. The same symbolism, accentuated by the sun's rays, is represented by the three windows overlooking the presbytery area. The side portal and the apses with pilasters refer to models of the first architecture of Normandy. The image shows the apses with the supporting pilasters for the conical roofs.
The most precious work is the Crucifix by Staglio, made with grease tempera on wood. Noteworthy are the baptismal font, a Norman work; the choir, built in 1877, decorated with the coats of arms of the then bishop Monsignor Giovanni Guttadauro and the abbot; the 15th century fresco of Sant'Agostino, of which only a few fragments survive; the fresco of the Mass of San Gregorio, also from the 15th century, depicting the vision of an unbeliever during a Mass celebrated by Pope San Gregorio Magno; the fresco of the blessing Christ, still from the 15th century; the fresco of the Panthocrator, repainted in 1964 by the Catania painter Archimede Cirinnà; the statue of the Madonna delle Grazie, of the sixteenth century, in polychrome terracotta, which is the oldest Marian representation of Caltanissetta.
