Mother Church of San Paolo in Solarino
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The Church of San Paolo Apostolo in Solarino is the mother church of the city.
It was built starting from 1764 under the guidance of the stonemason master Luciano Alì but the works, due to lack of funds, lasted for more than a hundred years.
The facade of the church is divided into two orders: the lower one in Doric style, the upper one in Ionic style.
The first order is divided into five pilasters, one of which is incorporated in a building adjacent to the church, which alternate with the three portals.
The second order is divided into six pilasters with a central window in which, since June 2009, a polychrome glass representation of the simulacrum of Saint Paul has found its place inside the same church ; On the right side is the belfry with three bells surmounted by the civic clock.
The interior, with a Latin cross plan, is divided into three naves. The central vault, unlike those of the lateral naves, is richly decorated with frescoes with floral motifs and with four large paintings depicting scenes from the life of Saint Paul, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century.
Among the works kept in the inside the church of particular interest are: a wooden statue of San Francesco d'Assisi, a nineteenth-century work by the Palermitan sculptor Rosario Bagnasco; a large organ with nine sound registers and five hundred and sixty-nine pipes, built in 1921 by the Polizzi firm of Modica; the nine nymphs or the chandeliers entirely in frosted crystals with embossed and gilded copper decorations, which adorn the central nave and the arches lead from this to the side naves.
