Church of San Giuseppe in Ragusa
The Church of San Giuseppe di Ragusa Ibla represents, together with the Church of San Giorgio, one of the maximum expressions of Sicilian Baroque. The church was built starting from 1701, based on a project by Rosario Gagliardi, on the ruins of the Church of San Tommaso which was razed to the ground by the earthquake of 1693. Between 1756 and 1760 the Rococo project replaced the Baroque one, the church thus assumed a similar appearance in some sections to the Church of San Giorgio and in others to the nearby church of the Madonna del Carmine.
The façade has the same architectural elements as the church of San Giorgio: a convex facade, in a composite style, divided into three orders. The first order is characterized by four columns and two Corinthian semi-pillars, a portal with a semicircular arch surmounted by elegant sculptures and four statues. The second order has a central window, with a semicircular arch surmounted by sculptures, four columns and two semi-pillars with Ionic sculptures, two volutes and two statues depicting San Mauro and San Benedetto. Finally, the third order has three bell cells with rounded railings enriched with scrolls and decorations. On the bell tower there are three bells of which the first, the largest, is embellished with a San Giuseppe from 1857.
The interior has an oval plan like the nearby Church of Santa Maria Valverde. The wooden stands with grates allowed the nuns of the annexed monastery of San Benedetto to attend religious functions.
Among the works kept inside the church, of particular interest are: the canvas of Santa Gertrude, by Tommaso Pollace ; the painting of the Trinity, the work of Giuseppe Crestadoro; the Holy Family, the work of Matteo Battaglia, located in the central altar; and a seventeenth-century silver statue of San Giuseppe.
