Carmel Church in Delia
The Church of Carmelo in Delia is an ancient building of worship in the village.
It was built on the hill of Monserrato, in an isolated place surrounded by nature, by will of the Baron of Delia in 1602. A monastery was annexed to it of Carmelites. The monastery was abolished about sixty years after its construction. The church, like all Carmelite churches, was initially dedicated to the Madonna Annunziata. Probably following the reconstruction which took place in 1725, it was dedicated to the Madonna del Carmelo. However, the current façade dates back to 1870: due to an abundant vein of water it was necessary to redo the foundations. The presence of water underground gave rise to the legend that a strip of sea flowed under the floor of the church.
The building is located in a raised position above the street level and can be reached via a characteristic white stone staircase.< br>The façade, in stone, presents the typical eighteenth-century rural architecture: a gabled façade with simple lines with a valuable portal in local white limestone surmounted by a niche which houses a marble statue of the Madonna. Above the niche there is a large window delimited by a row of the same stones used for the portal. The building is flanked by a high and elegant bell tower: it presents a composite style where the majesty of the neoclassical and the mystical elevation of the Gothic coexist.
The interior, with a single nave, is decorated with stuccos and enriched with frescoes which they narrate episodes from the life of the Madonna.
Among the works kept inside the church, of particular value are: The canvas of Sant'Anna dating back to the end of the Seiconto; the canvas of the Madonna of Monserrato once kept in the small church of Monserrato, now deconsecrated; the stone stoup held by a hand which is believed to be an older work than the church itself.
