Church of Maria Santissima Assunta in Palazzo Adriano

In the small Sicilian municipality di Palazzo Adriano of province of Palermo there are several locations not to be missed for lovers of religious art and history, such as the Church of Maria Santissima Assunta.

The Byzantine charm of the church of Santa Maria Santissima Assunta

La Church of Maria Santissima Assunta in Palazzo Adriano it is a structure built in 1532 and revisited and renovated several times due to damage caused by natural disasters and the passage of time. It is a building of Byzantine rite, therefore slightly different from the Christian one with its own traditions and which represents one of the most beautiful and majestic churches in the whole area.
The property comes with one architectural style partly Byzantine, partly neoclassic e barocco due to the renovations carried out in 1770 when it was also enlarged, losing what was its initial Greek cross shape. This dislocation of spaces has been maintained up to the present day, so it has three naves and decorations with gilded stucco and important canvases made in the mid-nineteenth century. A peculiarity concerns the lateral stairway built with tuff for a choice due to the fact that it was the custom in the times of Ferdinand III to arrive on horseback up to a few meters from the church entrance.

What to see inside the Church

The church of Santa Maria Santissima Assunta in Palazzo Adriano is a building that has a lot to offer not only for its architectural characteristics but also for the many works still preserved today. In particular there are several paintings made byPalermo artist Giuseppe Patania positioned on the walls of the various aisles. In these works some circumstances are depicted in which extraordinary characters of Christian religious history are the protagonists such as San Marco Evangelista, San Giovanni Chrysostom or San Nicola di Myra. Regardless of the theme, these works are of great artistic and cultural importance. Furthermore, two are still visible on the side façade antique clocks solar panels built in 1793 i.e. during the renovation. In the apse area instead there is a beautiful painting of important dimensions of about 6 square meters depicting precisely Maria Santissima Assunta made in 1766 by an artist named Carlo Marsigli.

What to see in Palazzo Adriano

Although Palazzo Adriano is a fairly small town with only 1800 inhabitants, it offers its visitors several historic buildings of interest and a breathtaking view due to its location on the northern slopes of the Mount of Roses about 700 meters above sea level.

The community had an important history in the Middle Ages having been taken into consideration several times by Frederick II but also by Frederick III himself and this is confirmed by the presence of many important religious buildings such as the Church of Maria Santissima del Lumen built during the eighteenth century in which there is the simulacrum of Sant'Antonio di Padova, San Francesco da Paola and the Madonna of Fatima. Equally beautiful is the Church of Maria Santissima del Carmelo which is located in an extraordinarily intriguing and scenic location. This structure has even more ancient origins because it was built during the sixteenth century, so much so that it was initially used for the Byzantine rite and then moved on to the Latin one. Among other things Palazzo Adriano has also become important with regard to Italian cinematic history because inside it would have been the movie theater Nuovo Cinema Paradiso di Giuseppe Tornatore which won the Academy Award.

How to get to Palazzo Adriano

To reach Palazzo Adriano, by car, coming from Palermo you have to travel a road that measures a total of 90 km for a journey time of about 90 minutes. The road includes the insertion on the SS118 which leads directly to Palazzo Adriano. Coming from Messina, a journey of 260 km is required for over three and a half hours of travel, crossing the A20 motorway and then the E90.