Church of San Francesco in Mazara del Vallo
The Church of San Francesco di Mazara del Vallo is one of the main places of worship in the city. Its origins date back to 250 AD, when the crypts were built for the burial of Christians and a small place of worship. The first real religious building was built in 1093, at the behest of the Grand Count Roger I of Sicily, during a rebuilding and enlargement of Mazara del Vallo following its conquest against the Saracens. The current appearance of the Church of San Francesco is due to the renovations carried out in the last years of the seventeenth century.
The façade, comprised between tall molded pilasters in ashlars, rounded in the cantonals, has a splendid portal d entrance by Leonardo Incrivaglia from 1730. The passage is delimited by two columns placed on high plinths, the shaft has a twisted base adorned with a helical festoon. The whole supports a tympanum with curled volutes and an intermediate marble medallion.
Interior with a single nave and a sumptuous plastic apparatus attributed to the Orlando workshop, and a cycle of frescoes by Giovanni Battista Scannatella. The decoration is completed by allegories of the cardinal and theological virtues, stucco statues in the round with the appearance of female figures and busts of holy Franciscan martyrs placed on the cornice among rows of praying and cheering cherubs and a riot of decorations.
In the Church of San Francesco's ancient underground crypts are still present today.
