Cathedral of Santa Maria La Nova in Caltanissetta
The Cathedral of Santa Maria la Nova is the Mother Church of Caltanissetta, the main religious building of the city.
It was built around the middle of the sixteenth century to meet the new urban needs, it took the name of Santa Maria la Nova to distinguish itself from the previous church Mother of Santa Maria la Vetere. A part of the façade and the internal vault, destroyed by the American bombings of 1943, were rebuilt immediately after the war and the transept and the dome were also built at that time.
The white façade, simple and severe, is characterized by two overlapping orders: in the lower one, divided by pilasters, there are three access portals in which the central one stands out, a monumental wooden work enriched by columns on its sides; the upper order consists of a central body surmounted by a triangular tympanum and two lateral bell towers.
The interior, with a basilica layout with three naves divided by mighty pillars, with an imposing vaulted roof. The vault was frescoed in 1720 by Guglielmo Borremans with the trompe d´oeil technique. In fact, the painter pretends that five large windows open on the ceiling from which it is possible to see the sky and scenes of paradise. Around a long theory of saints and some episodes from the life of St. Peter and St. Paul. The altarpiece dedicated to the Virgin is by the same artist, painted with warmer and less luminous colors than the frescoes on the vault. On the other hand, the decorations of the arches of the pillars representing scenes from the Bible can be ascribed to the school of Borremans.
Among the works kept inside the church, of particular interest are the statue of the Immaculate Conception and the Simulacrum of St. Michael the Archangel, made by Stefano Li Volsi, who used olive wood and willow wood. The same Simulacrum is also the protagonist of the religious procession that takes place annually during the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel.
