Church of San Teodoro in San Marco D'Alunzio
The Church of San Teodoro in San Marco D'Alunzio, also known as Badia Piccola, is an ancient building of worship in the village.
It was built in the 16th century on the site of an ancient Byzantine chapel. The church was part of a Benedictine monastery known as Badia Piccola to distinguish it from the Benedictine monastery of Badia Grande.
The simple facade, made of stone, has no valuable architectural elements.
The interior, cross-shaped Greek, is made up of a central octagon and four large pillars which support as many lowered arches on which the drum closed by the dome rests. The first arm of the Greek cross is covered by a barrel vault on which there is a paved surface which allowed the cloistered nuns to participate in religious functions through wooden jealousies. The interior is decorated with stuccoes in Serpottian style, created by Don Corrado Oddo in the 18th century, with biblical depictions in bas-relief: Judith and Holofernes; The fall of the manna in the desert; four scenes from the parable of the prodigal son; the Saints and the four Theological Virtues corresponding to the pillars that support the vault.
Among the works kept in the church, of particular value are: the precious gilded wooden ciborium with silver tabernacle dating back to the 18th century; the canvas of the martyrdom of San Teodoro.
The monastery adjacent to the church of San Teodoro houses the a href="https://www.enjoysicilia.it/en/messina-parco-nebrodi/san-marco-d-alunzio/museo-normanno-bizantino-san-marco-d-alunzio/">Museum of Byzantine and Norman Culture and Figurative Arts of San Marco D'Alunzio.
In the square in front of the church of San Teodoro it is possible to admire some cisterns from the Hellenistic age and a Hellenistic-Roman mosaic floor.
