Church of Sant'Antonio Abate in Avola
Church of Sant'Antonio Abate in Avola is a baroque style building of worship.
It was built in 1703 with the proceeds of the gold that the survivors of the 1693 earthquake offered to Christ at the Column.
The façade , rebuilt in the 19th century and superimposed on the 18th century one, is made of stone and is preceded by a wrought iron gate.
The interior, with a single nave, is richly decorated with gilded rococo stuccoes, fine marbles, and opera frescoes. by Olivio Sozzi and the paintings with the Doctors of the Church and the Evangelists depicted on the wall of the single nave and attributed to Ermenegildo Martorana. The main altar is made in neoclassical style with jaspers and onyx.
Inside the church there are works of notable artistic value: the statue of Ecce Homo, Christ at the Column, a work from 1610, in wood and plaster painting; the large altarpiece with San Antonio Abate praying donated in 1713 by the cannamilari, the sugar cane workers; the nineteenth-century organ by the Platania brothers from Acireale.
