Description
The Basilica della Collegiata, dedicated to Maria Santissima dell'Elemosina, is a large late Baroque church on Via Etnea, just north of Piazza Università: a limestone facade that moves in curves and countercurves, crowned by a belfry full of angels and cherubs.
The facade, designed in the 18th century by the Polish architect Stefano Ittar, is an example of international late Baroque. On the second order, between large scroll-shaped volutes, stand statues of Saint Agatha and Saint Apollonia; in the niches of the central loggia, Saint Peter and Saint Paul.
Inside, the church has three aisles and floors, altars, and railings of marble. In 1896 the Catania painter Giuseppe Sciuti frescoed the vault and dome with episodes and figures from the Bible, from the Madonna of Mercy to the Assumption and the Evangelists.
On the high altar is an icon of the Madonna and Child, a copy of the Madonna dell'Elemosina in the Byzantine tradition. Around it is the canons' wooden choir with 36 stalls, second in importance in the city only to the cathedral's.
The name goes back a long way. According to legend, an image of the Madonna displayed on a street corner drew so much devotion that the faithful built a little church for it with their alms, and over the centuries it grew into the city's second church.
When the royal court lived at Castello Ursino, the Aragonese kings made it their private chapel: from 1396 it was the "Regia Cappella", the Royal Chapel, words that still stand out on the facade today. The church's district was so vast that it escaped the bishop's authority, and this sparked a rivalry with the cathedral that lasted for centuries.
It came to a head in Lent of 1801. A canon of the Collegiata, invited by the bishop to preach in the cathedral, climbed into the pulpit wearing the insignia of his chapter; the cathedral canons grabbed him and dragged him down with the help of a gendarme. The king ordered the gendarme to be held in a cell for a few days.
The rebuilding after the earthquake of 1693 was a battle too. The church was turned around to face the new Via Etnea, but a neighbor, the Baron of Sigona, opposed the bell tower because, he said, the sound of the bells disturbed his domestic peace, and he took the case all the way to Rome. The work only started again after his death, in 1769.
The facade, designed in the 18th century by the Polish architect Stefano Ittar, is an example of international late Baroque. On the second order, between large scroll-shaped volutes, stand statues of Saint Agatha and Saint Apollonia; in the niches of the central loggia, Saint Peter and Saint Paul.
Inside, the church has three aisles and floors, altars, and railings of marble. In 1896 the Catania painter Giuseppe Sciuti frescoed the vault and dome with episodes and figures from the Bible, from the Madonna of Mercy to the Assumption and the Evangelists.
On the high altar is an icon of the Madonna and Child, a copy of the Madonna dell'Elemosina in the Byzantine tradition. Around it is the canons' wooden choir with 36 stalls, second in importance in the city only to the cathedral's.
The name goes back a long way. According to legend, an image of the Madonna displayed on a street corner drew so much devotion that the faithful built a little church for it with their alms, and over the centuries it grew into the city's second church.
When the royal court lived at Castello Ursino, the Aragonese kings made it their private chapel: from 1396 it was the "Regia Cappella", the Royal Chapel, words that still stand out on the facade today. The church's district was so vast that it escaped the bishop's authority, and this sparked a rivalry with the cathedral that lasted for centuries.
It came to a head in Lent of 1801. A canon of the Collegiata, invited by the bishop to preach in the cathedral, climbed into the pulpit wearing the insignia of his chapter; the cathedral canons grabbed him and dragged him down with the help of a gendarme. The king ordered the gendarme to be held in a cell for a few days.
The rebuilding after the earthquake of 1693 was a battle too. The church was turned around to face the new Via Etnea, but a neighbor, the Baron of Sigona, opposed the bell tower because, he said, the sound of the bells disturbed his domestic peace, and he took the case all the way to Rome. The work only started again after his death, in 1769.