Cathedral of Castelvetrano
The Cathedral of Castelvetrano , dedicated to Maria Santissima Assunta , is the main place of worship in the city.
It was built in 1520, at the behest of Giovanni Vincenzo Tagliavia, the first count of Castelvetrano, in the place where the church of Santa Maria stood, the primitive mother church, and the church of San Giorgio, located on the area corresponding to the base of the current bell tower.
The facade is divided into two orders by a string course. At the first order we find the portal bordered by pilasters, in turn made up of pilasters on plinths, both artifacts decorated with arabesques of medieval taste. The second order, with tiered slopes, has a large oculus with glass in the central partition. The lateral parietal summits have a characteristic double dovetail battlements.
The interior, with a basilica plan, is divided into three naves by columns with Corinthian capitals and round arches made of limestone ashlars. The wooden trussed roof is enriched by a central beam richly decorated with coats of arms, musical instruments and weapons. The cross vault is delimited by two arches: a triumphal arch attributed to Vincenzo Messina dating back to the early eighteenth century whose decorative apparatus consists of a mantle draped between friezes and shells, large volutes with leaf 'acanthus, the Eternal Father surrounded by cherubs and angels; an apse arch made by Gaspare Serpotta in 1667 decorated with a thick festoon of fruit and flowers supported by putti. Placed on shelves at the base of the arch are the statues depicting Sant'Agnese and Sant'Agata while on the keystone there is an eagle with outstretched wings ridden by a putto in the act of playing the horn and, higher up, two large flying angels holding up a shield surmounted by a crown held up by two putti.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the building was enriched with numerous works of art and stucco figures in the round including the Altarpiece of the Assumption made by Orazio Ferraro in 1619.
