The church of Maria Santissima degli Agonizzanti, in Carini, was built in the seventeenth century and is a full example of Baroque. In all probability it was finished in 1707: a plaque, cut down, in the transept says so.
What to see
The interior is clad in an extremely rich setting of stuccoes, with a movement of putti of the school of Serpotta. Lower down two «teatrini», in fully rounded relief, stage scenes of the dying, the theme to which the church is dedicated.
Along the two side walls the gilding of the stuccoes alternates with frescoes showing moments from the life of the Madonna, attributed to Filippo Tancredi and in part to Filippo Randazzo. In the vault is the large fresco of the Coronation of the Virgin, and other canvases complete the ensemble.
Visiting
Opening and service times should be checked on the spot or on Carini's tourism portal.
Our editors' tip
On entering, the eye ends on the canvas at the far end: the Madonna degli Agonizzanti, a painting linked to the Flemish culture at work in Sicily in the first half of the seventeenth century. Look at it last, after the stuccoes, because it is the point towards which the whole decoration converges.
