During the early centuries of Christiandom ( Christianity) a small tabernacle was erected where the church now stands. It was dadicated to the Madonna of the Alms ( madona dell’Elemosina) : hence the origin of the church’s ancient name. The importance of the temple grew through the centuries, as it become patronized by Aragonese kings and their court. This led to it being entitled ‘Royal chapel’ in 1396. With a bull dated March 31st 1446, Pope Eugene IV estabileshed a college of canons there who were chosen from the priests from all the other churches in the town; hence its title of ‘Collegiata’.
The reconstruction of the church
The church was reconstructed after the great earthquake in 1693, on the same site of the ancient church but the main entrance was reversed, opening onto the new via Etnea (previously via Uzeda). The new disposition allowed the church to open its facade on the broadest and most important street of the resurrected Catania. The building was carried out by the architect Antonio Amato, based on a project by the Jesuit Angelo Italia. The facade is an extraordinary masterpiece by Angelo Ittar (1758). It is animated by a series of convexities and concavities, conferring a musical rhythm and harmony to the whole. It stands on an elevated rostrum preceded by a wide flight of steps; the main door and the side entrances are framed by six columns topped with elegant Corinthian capitals. The wide central niche arch is surmonted by an eagle with its wings outstretched; flanked by two angels holding a trumpet. The two other niches hold sculputes of St. Peter and St. Paul.
The inside has three richly decorated naves; on the pillars are medallions showing the attributes of the Virgin Mary. Inside the church large paintings can be seen, showing St. Euplio and St. Apollonia ( by Sozzi) and a Martirio di St.Agata by Gramignani (1779).
At the end of the right nave is the cappella dell’Immacolata where there is a beautiful wooden statue of the Madonna.
The Presbytery hosts a wooden choir with 36 seats; at the sides are works by Giuseppe Sciuti: one representing the ancient Tabernacle dedicated to the Madonna, the other recalling the delivery of the bull from Pope Eugene to the blessed Pietro Geremia.
The frescoes on the vault are also by Sciuti who completed the work in 1898.
Giuseppe Sciuti, painting like theatre
Sciuti was mainly famous as a curtain painter: those in the Teatro Massimo in Palermo are his. Having studied in Catania with the scene-painter, De Stefani, he developed the skill to orchestrate masterfully those historical scenes, mainly of Roman or Greek setting, which were so widespread in the rhetoric or postunitarian Italy.
He was mainly a theatre decortor, in its strictest meaning, even beyond his specific role of curtain painter; the way he positions the masses in his grand compositions, the scenic use of architectural elements employed as wings, his keenly focused panoramas, all make it very clear how Sciuti’s painting is related to the most beloved nineteenth century show: melodrama. His classical settings remind one of those in the first historical film productions, the tricks and expedient means in his painting also seem inspired by cinema’s special effects.
copyright Giuseppe Maimone Publisher