Mother Church of Monforte San Giorgio
The Mother Church of Monforte San Giorgio, dedicated to the patron saint San Giorgio, occupies the main square of the town.
Its origins date back to the 14th century: according to an ancient tradition, it was built by the Gran Conte Ruggero and dedicated to San Giorgio as a sign of thanks for the help received during the victorious battle of Cerami against the Arabs. Originally the church was of the Greek rite, it was subsequently radically restructured and enlarged between the end of the century. XV and the beginning of the XVI. This is testified by the lateral portal on the left, dated 1507 and in Gothic-Catalan style.
A large pincer staircase with two lateral landings that welcome seats with the backs depicting the lily of France , perhaps in memory of the Angevin presence in Monforte, lead to the church.
The facade, tripartite by four robust and high pilasters, is divided into two orders by a large and elaborate cornice. The main portal has fluted columns surmounted by Corinthian capitals and, in the central part of the broken tympanum, houses the marble statue of the patron Saint George, a knight, in a niche.
The interior has a basilica plan with three naves, a transept and three apses grandstand. In the lateral aisles there are five altars on each side and two entrance portals.
The church houses works of notable artistic value. The side apse dedicated to the SS. Sacramento houses the Cenacolo, a unique monumental marble complex of its kind, a work attributed to Jacopo del Duca from Cefalù (1596). It is a very elaborate representation of the last supper, completely in marble, embellished with a generous gilding in pure gold leaf and with bright and soft colours. Inserted between the columns and the architrave, above the tabernacle, there is then the most extraordinary part of the work: a real room where Jesus and the twelve Apostles are depicted in the round during the Last Supper, in half-real proportions. The richness of gold, its splendor that makes the shapes of the frames, the tabernacle, the statues of the Angel and the Madonna shine. Above, in the semi-darkness, the scene of the Last Supper emerges.
Remarkable are the two marble statues of the Virgin with Child in her arms from the Gagini workshop from the 16th century and the two marble statuettes depicting the Annunciation, by Giovan Battista Mazzola from the 16th century XVI.
Among the other works of significant artistic value we mention: the painting The mystical marriage of S. Rosa by the Messina Antonio Filocamo of 1705; the wooden statue of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria from the 18th century; the polyptych on wood with the Madonna and Child among Saints by Antonello De Saliba from 1530; the carved wooden choir from the 16th-17th century; the coffered wooden ceiling of the XVII-XVIII century; the 17th-18th century wooden canopy with the 17th century canvas of the Madonna della Lettera by Carlo Maratta; the seventeenth-century canvas of San Giorgio knight by Onofrio Gabrielli; in the transept the altar of the Immaculate Conception with an arch in local stone from the 16th century; and the painting Immaculate among Saints by an unknown artist dating back to the 18th century.
