Church of Santa Caterina in Sambuca di Sicilia
The Church of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria and the remains of the monastery of the Benedictine Order constitute a single monumental aggregate of the city of Sambuca di Sicilia.
The Church was part of the monastery of the Benedictines and was founded by the nobleman Giovanni Domenico d'Irlando in 1515.
The body of the large building of the monastery was built on three sides of the church: on the left where today the rooms of the current rectory are located and on the right where there was a large cloister, demolished immediately after the First World War to create the current Piazza della Vittoria with the war memorial.
The main facade bordered by sturdy corner pilasters in stone, has an isosceles staircase that connects the roadway to the floor of the nave.
The interior of the church is adorned with stuccoes in the seventeenth century, one of the first early works by Vincenzo Messina, a pupil who trained at the Serpotta school. It is a coarse baroque of first experience, handcrafted but for this reason very valuable. The ornaments include statues in the round depicting the allegories of the four incarnate Virtues placed on the sides of the first two altars of the nave. A profusion of caryatids on columns, candelabra, scrolls, shells, frames, crowns, details finished among phytomorphic motifs with acanthus leaf.
Among the noteworthy works of art that enrich the monastery church are: a statue wooden church of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria from 1500; a large altarpiece by Fra Felice della Sambuca depicting the glorification of the Marquis Don Pietro Beccadelli who endowed and enriched the Monastery and the Church with revenues and works of art; a canvas depicting the Madonna and Child of the Flemish school.
