Sanctuary of Maria Santissima dei Miracoli in Alcamo
The Sanctuary of Maria Santissima dei Miracoli in Alcamo rises in the peripheral area of the town and is the most important and ancient building of worship dedicated to the patron saint of the city.
According to tradition, on 21 June 1547 , some women, including one blind and one deaf, while washing clothes in the stream, saw a woman appear with a child in her arms and, immediately after, they were hit by various stones thrown from the forest above which, instead of hurting them or causing them pain , healed them of their infirmities. Following this miraculous event, the land was cleared and an icon of the Virgin painted on stone was found hidden in a cavity. On this site, the noble Fernando de Celada y de Vega, governor of Alcamo, decided to have the sanctuary built, the project of which was entrusted in 1547 to the Palermo architect Girolamo Vicchiuzzo.
The building represents an interesting example of transition between gothic and renaissance. The tanned masonry façade presents classical forms in the architraved openings of the portal with columns. Along the entire perimeter of the building runs a summit cornice defined by modillions alternating with tiles carved in the stone. The bell tower has a pyramidal spire covered with polychrome majolica.
The sanctuary has a rectangular apsidal plan with a single nave, four altars on each side and a barrel vaulted roof, decorated in the center with a painting depicting the "Madonna with Jesus Child in glory between angels and devotees "by Alessandro Abate of 1947. The ecclesial hall is entirely decorated with stuccoes made by Nicolò Curti in 1762.
