The name comes not from Sciacca but from Jerusalem: in 1172 the church was placed under the abbey of San Filippo di Argirò and the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria Latina in Jerusalem, and from that tie the adjective stuck. It had already stood for at least a generation: the foundation falls between 1100 and 1136 and tradition credits it to Countess Giulietta, daughter of Count Roger de Hauteville. It is the oldest church in town, in the Rabato, the quarter laid out under Islamic rule.
What to see
The gabled front is built of local limestone, with a moulding that runs around its whole outline: a portal below, and above it three windows framed by a double recess, lined up across the wall. There is no carving and no statuary, and the mixture of Arab and Norman elements lies in the structure rather than the ornament: scholars do not rule out that Arab craftsmen from the quarter worked on the building.
Inside, the plan is a Latin cross, with a single nave and an open timber ceiling. The end wall opens into three semicircular apses side by side, the detail that points most clearly to the Arab-Norman repertoire; high up, small splayed windows let in a narrow light. The walls were once frescoed throughout in the Byzantine manner: what survives are fragments, patches of colour and a few figures you can barely make out. Of the Benedictine monastery that stood alongside, little is left.
Visiting
The church stands in Piazza San Nicolò, in the upper part of the Rabato: it is a ten-minute walk uphill from the centre, and the car is better left below. There are no fixed hours: it stays shut for most of the year and is usually seen during the special-opening festivals in autumn, or by asking at the parish and the tourist office. Twenty minutes are enough, since there is only one room; steps lead to the door and there is no wheelchair access.
Our editors' tip
If the door is open, step in and stand still for a minute before looking around: the light falling from the small windows is faint and the fresco fragments only separate out once the eye has adjusted. Then walk up to Santa Maria delle Giummare, a little higher in the same quarter: it is the other Norman foundation that local tradition ties to Countess Giulietta.
