Facing Piazza Carmine, the church of Santa Margherita was raised in 1342 by Eleonora of Aragon, wife of Peralta. But its most precious piece came later: the marble portal on the right side, made in 1468 by Pietro de Bonitate to a design by Francesco Laurana, is a small Renaissance masterpiece set into a building of many eras.
What to see
The main entrance is in Catalan style, while the interior, a single nave, is Baroque: it keeps polychrome stuccos and seventeenth-century frescoes by Ferraro. On the altar are a marble icon of 1507-1512, a wooden statue of Saint Margaret of 1544 by Frigia, and a wooden organ of 1641. Along the nave run six large panels and medallions made by Portulani between 1529 and 1530, and two broad canvases by Gaspare Testone with the Nativity and the Adoration of the Magi. The church was decorated in 1595 and last restored in 1994.
Our editors' tip
Go round to the right side to find de Bonitate's portal: the hand of Francesco Laurana, one of the great sculptors of the Sicilian Renaissance, shows in the finesse of the carving. It is the detail that lifts Santa Margherita above the many churches of Sciacca.