Description of the attraction
The Basilica della Collegiata, also known as Santa Maria del Elemosina, is a Sicilian Baroque church in Catania. Work on its construction began after the devastating earthquake of 1693 and was completed only in 1768.
The creation of the church project is credited to Angelo Italia, who changed the position of the previous building, destroyed by the disaster, so that the new church faces Via Useda (now Via Etnea) in accordance with the plan to rebuild the city. The façade that Stefano Ittar worked on is one of the finest examples of the Sicilian Baroque style in Catania.
The church has two orders, the first consists of six stone columns topped with a balustrade. The second order has a large central window flanked by four statues - Saints Peter, Paul, Agatha and Apollonia. There is a bell at the very top of the building. You can get to the church by climbing a huge staircase, the wrought iron railings of which separate the porch space.
Inside, the basilica consists of a central nave, two side chapels separated by pilasters, and three apses. The central apse is somewhat elongated - it contains the house of the parish priest. In the right side-altar there is a baptismal font and three altars with images of saints. In the left side-altar, you can see the Chapel of the Holy Gifts with a marble altar. And the main altar of the basilica is decorated with a marble balustrade and a marble statue of the Madonna. An attraction of the interior decoration is the icon of the Virgin Mary with the Child - a copy of the Byzantine icon kept in the temple of the small Sicilian town of Biancavilla. Also worth noting is the 18th century wooden organ and wooden choirs. The vaults of the basilica and its dome are painted with frescoes by Giuseppe Chouti.
