Description
The Church of San Francesco d'Assisi all'Immacolata dominates the square of the same name in Catania's historic center: a Baroque limestone facade, four large statues of saints on the balustrade and a staircase of lava stone from Mount Etna.
Inside, three naves with a floor of white and blue squares. In the apse stands the organ on which the young Vincenzo Bellini practiced; he lived right across the way, in Palazzo Gravina Cruyllas. Also worth seeing are the Way to Calvary by Jacopo Vignerio, from 1541, and the lapis lazuli and gold ciborium from 1574 on the high altar.
The church was founded in 1329 at the wish of Queen Eleanor of Anjou, in thanks to the Virgin for escaping the danger of an eruption of Etna. The queen was buried here, and a plaque remembers her. In the left nave a painting shows her in a Franciscan habit beside Saint Clare.
Inside, three naves with a floor of white and blue squares. In the apse stands the organ on which the young Vincenzo Bellini practiced; he lived right across the way, in Palazzo Gravina Cruyllas. Also worth seeing are the Way to Calvary by Jacopo Vignerio, from 1541, and the lapis lazuli and gold ciborium from 1574 on the high altar.
The church was founded in 1329 at the wish of Queen Eleanor of Anjou, in thanks to the Virgin for escaping the danger of an eruption of Etna. The queen was buried here, and a plaque remembers her. In the left nave a painting shows her in a Franciscan habit beside Saint Clare.