Baroque Itinerary

Naro reached the peak of it’s splendour during the XVII century, a period which corrispondes to the Baroque epoc; an art style associated with the Catholic Counter –Reformation. During this span of time, the town is enriched by many work of art and monuments done by artists with great creativity genius.

The Baroque route forsees a visit to the

SS. Salvatore Church,
San Niccolò’s church,
Mother Church (Chiesa Madre)
former Jesuit College,
Saint Agostino Church,
Church and the former Convent of San Francesco
Church of San Calogero.

The first stop

Ultimo aggiornamento Sabato 04 Maggio 2013 15:33 | PDF

Walking along Via Dante, we will find ourselves infront of our first stop: The SS. Salvatore Church, to which once was annexed the Monastery of the Benedictine’s, subsequently demolished in order to build an anacronistic school building.

It was King Martin the Young who desired the erection of this church during his stay with his young wife, Queen Maria, in Naro in 1398.

The advent of the Baroque epoc witnessed a total transformation of the church. The façade was renewed only in it’s inferior part (whilst the superior one remained in a rustic state), enriched with a typical spanish taste which consists in rich yellow tufa engravings.

Five half pilars with support functions divide the spaces of the façade, two of which are positioned on the sides of the portal; in two cavities there are the statues of San Benedetto and Santa Scolastica. Next door to the church there is the uncompleted bell tower, built in 1750.

The inside is composed by only one nave and by an entrance pronao (a hall). Once the church was adorned by a beautiful vault frescod by Domenico Provenzani. Today, one can admire only the shadow of it’s past splendour.

In between the entrance and the door, there is the sarcophagus od Giuseppe Lucchesi, marquess of Delia (a nearby town) and beside the one of Assuero Lucchese, the last Duke of Alagona.

The second stop

Ultimo aggiornamento Sabato 04 Maggio 2013 15:35 | PDF

If we carry on walking in Via Dante, we will reach our second stop: The Church of San Niccolò of Bari. The church was built by Don Vincenzo Lucchese in 1618 and was named in honor of Saint Joseph (San Giuseppe); subsequently it was transformed into a monastery by Lady Diodata la Lucchese, hosting the nuns of noble lineage. In 1765 it became a parish and was dedicated to San Nicolò of Bari, bishop of Mira.

The façade is ornated with manieristic decorations, which express the first period of the sicilian baroque. On top of the entrance portal there is an architrave which rappresents the Announciation.

The fourth stop

Ultimo aggiornamento Sabato 04 Maggio 2013 15:38 | PDF

In P. Favara Square there is the fourth stop our our journey through Baroque Naro: the Church of Saint Agostino.

Some historians believe that the foundation of the church is datable round about the arrival of the Augustin’s hermits; they arrived in Sicily to flee from the violence of the Vandals in Africa in 493. They took refuge on the Romito hill (located at north-west from Naro) where they built a convent; they lived there till the arab invasion. In 1117 the monks moved to a place nearer the town (P. Favara square) where they founded a small convent in 1254. The architectual elements of this gothic period that are still observable are some blind windows and a portual in the sacristy. After different restorations, in 1707 (swallowing it’s old structure) the new church was built, completed and blessed by prior Ludovico La Lomia.

The building has a latin cross lay-out. The inside is characterized by two aisles and one nave delimited by a two lines of pilars; the intersection of the transept gives rise to a cupola. The inside is also enriched by: the works of Domenico Provenzani which consist in six altar pieces; a wooden cross done by an anonymous artist situated on the fourth altar on the left hand side of the church and by a baptismal font of the 1400s. The Choir carried out in walnut wood and the pulpit were acheived by a local craftsman. The church also conserves the sarcophaguses of Francesco Alacchi and of Lorenzo Favara. Underneath the church there is crypt were the Augustian monks were buried.

The third stop

Ultimo aggiornamento Sabato 04 Maggio 2013 15:37 | PDF

Just further on, still walking down Via Dante, there is our third stop: the Chiesa Madre (the Mother Church) and the former Jesuit College, both built between 1610 and 1619 by Father Gaspare Paraninfo, whom belonged to the order of the Jesuits.

As a of consequence of the ‹‹Family Agreement›› stipulated between the Boubon Sovereigns of France, Spain, Naples and Parma in 1767, the first expulsion of the Jesuits took place; in 1785 the college was given to the Benedictines of SS.Annunziata but only to return later to the Jesuits. The enterprise of the 1000 (with Garibaldi) witnessed the suppression of the religious associations, so the second expulsion of the Jesuits took place; for this and also for the closure of the old Norman Cathedral (the then Mother church), the church of the Jesuits was entrusted to the regular clergy and was proclaimed the new Mother Church.

What survives of the old Jesuit College is the entrance portal which gives access to cloister, situated beside the Mother Church.

The façade has been altered different times but it was completed only at the beginnig of the 1900’s. The inside is delimited by two aisles and one nave, all crossed by a transept that from the intersection gives rise to a false cupola.

Near the entrance there is a baptismal font (1424) done by Nardo do Cranzaro in late gothic style that comes from the old Norman Cathedral; the font rappresents the scene of the baptism of the twelve apostles. The Sacristy contains a large wooden cupboard datable around 1725 (which also comes from the old Norman Cathedral), enriched by little statues placed in cavities and by spiral wooden pilars. It was made by two local craftsmen of Agrigento: Gabriele Terranova and Giuseppe Cardilicchia.

On the third altar, situated on the left hand side of the church, there is a canvas of Domenico Provenzani brought from the Church of SS. Salvatore and before that brought from the Monastery of SS. Annunziata, which rappresents the Announciation (1780).

The fifth stop

Ultimo aggiornamento Sabato 04 Maggio 2013 15:38 | PDF

Our penultimmate stop is in Garibaldi Square: the Church and the former Convent of San Francesco.

The original structure of the church was built in the XIII century, and after being re-built different times, in 1635 the actual structure of the church was constructed. The façade, rich of manieristic and spanish decorative elements (niches, caryatids, sculptures, mascarons, ext...), belongs to the XII century. The inside is characterized by an only nave, covered by a wide cross vault ceiling, decorated by Domenico provenzani.

The church also conserves the paintings of Vito d’Anna (1718-1769), of father Felice of Sambuca (1734-1805) which rappresent Saint Francis, and of Eugenio Ragalbuto placed on the sides of the entrance, which rappresent the Good Death and the Bad Death. In the sacristy there is a black mable washbasin that rappresents the scene of when Saint Francis recieves the stigmas and a beautiful wooden cupboard done by a local artist, which rappresents scenes of The Way Of the Cross.

Nextdoor to the church there is the former convent. With the suppression of the religious associations in 1866, the franciscan monks were expelled and the convente was transformed into the Town Hall; other spaces of the convent are now occupied by the Felician Municipal Library. Even the cloister (1700s) of the Town Hall belonged to the former convent.

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The sixth stop

Città di Naro

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