The church of the Madonna delle Grazie is the mother church of Misterbianco, in the heart of the old centre, on piazza Papa Giovanni XXIII. It was built a few weeks after the Etna eruption of 1669, which had destroyed the old town; at first it was not meant to be the main church, because under the plans of the time that role went to San Nicolò, built almost at the same time. The façade follows as closely as possible that of the destroyed mother church of the same name, and above the three entrances stand statues of Christ the King, Saint Peter and Saint Paul.
What to see
The interior has three naves, with decoration by Giuseppe Barone, including frescoes of the evangelists John and Luke in the apse, of 1935. In the right-hand chapel is the marble statue of the Madonna delle Grazie, of 1589, from the Gagini school: it stood in the original church of Campanarazzu and was saved from the eruption of 1669. The chapel's paintings are by Barone and his pupil Pippo Giuffrida, including an Annunciation of 1936; there is also a statue of Saint Anthony of Padua.
In the large crypt, now at street level, the Museum of Sacred Art has been housed since 2010, run by the Monasterium Album foundation: five rooms created in the ossuary, the mortuary chapel beneath the dome, the draining chamber that follows the curve of the choir and the canons' burial vault. On display are the marbles recovered from the old mother church of Campanarazzu, with the wooden beam of 1810 that held its bell and a fragment of Gothic fresco, a sixteenth-century wooden crucifix, silver monstrances and reliquaries from the Messina and Acireale schools, and the reliquaries of Saint Vitus and Saint Anthony Abbot, patron of Misterbianco.
Visiting
The museum is entered from the lane on the east side of the church. Opening times of the church and museum should be checked beforehand.
Our editors' tip
The museum's third room holds the wooden model of the dome, of 1835, still in very good condition.
