Mother Church in Ramacca
The mother church of Ramacca, dedicated to the Nativity of Mary Most Holy, is a place of worship of notable architectural interest.
It was built in the early 1700s, following the licentia populandi, i.e. the authorization to establish the town, granted in 1688 by King Charles II to Prince Sancio, first prince of the fiefdom of Ramacca.
The current building of worship was originally an ancient farmhouse, which was then joined to the pre-existing sixteenth-century church of the SS . Crucifix.
The facade is outlined by two large sandstone pilasters, with high bases and frieze, and has a large central portal with a tympanum surmounted by a small rose window. Of particular value is the square turret of the seventeenth-century carved stone bell tower, originally with two orders, today surmounted by a structure with a civic clock.
The interior, with a single nave, has wall pilasters that support the five arches of the vault plaster real. Of particular value is the ancient high altar with tabernacle, in polychrome marble.
Among the works kept in the church of particular artistic value is the wooden statue of the Madonna delle Grazie dating back to the eighteenth century by an unknown author, placed in a wall niche above the main altar.
