Local tradition dates the church of Santa Maria La Vetere to around 580, founded at the wish of Saint Silvia, mother of Pope Gregory the Great. No document backs the claim, but it places the building among the oldest memories of Licata: by the same tradition it belonged to one of the four Benedictine monastic complexes of Sicily. The church changed names more than once over the centuries — Santa Maria di Gesù, as the Franciscans called it, and Santa Maria del Monte — and it still stands at the edge of town, on the eastern slopes of the mountain.
What to see
Inside are Byzantine-style frescoes, a trace of the site's long history. Alongside them, two objects draw the devout: a bronze crucifix linked to Saint Charles Borromeo and a slipper that belonged to Pope Paul V, relics that speak of the community's ties with Rome around the turn of the seventeenth century. The building rests on a terrace some forty metres above sea level, its main axis running east to west, its northern flank dropping into the gully of via Santa Maria. Set at the foot of the mountain, it sits a little apart from the modern centre.
Visiting
The church reopened for worship in 1988, after restoration and rebuilding that stretched over many years. The setting matters as much as the building: the surrounding ground carries almost unbroken archaeological remains, from prehistory through the Greek and Roman ages to the Middle Ages, a layered record that helps explain why a place of worship this old took root here, on the eastern slopes. It was in 1589 that the church, then known as Santa Maria di Gesù, was entrusted to the Observant Friars Minor.
Our editors' tip
Before you step inside, give a few minutes to the mountainside around the church: the archaeological area explains the choice of site better than any plaque. Once in, look for the bronze crucifix and Pope Paul V's slipper — the two pieces worth not missing.