chiesa di Sant'Agata al Monte, Monreale: visitor guide

Between 671 and 688, the Longobard King Pertarito established the female monastery of Sant'Agata al Monte to fulfill a vow made after escaping assassins sent by the usurper Grimoaldo. As recorded by Paul the Deacon, Pertarito escaped on the eve of Saint Agatha's day from the south-western corner of the Roman city wall, lowering himself with a rope held by his squire Unulfo. Rebuilt in the 12th century and significantly altered between the 15th and 17th centuries, the church was demolished in 1907 to build Casa Anelli.

What to see

The principal visible element remaining on site is the outer boundary wall along Via Rotari and Via Santa Margherita, which incorporates surviving stretches of Roman and early medieval city walls along its southern side. The core artistic and epigraphic heritage is preserved at the Musei Civici. The highlight is the large Renaissance apse fresco painted between 1502 and 1504 by Giovanni Angelo Sacchi and Alberto Ferrari da Grado; detached during the 1907 demolition, it was held by the Philadelphia Museum of Art until its return in 1997. The museum collections also display 12th-century Romanesque reliefs and Longobard marble epitaphs commemorating the abbey's abbesses, including an early 8th-century inscription for Cunicperga, daughter of King Cuniperto and granddaughter of King Pertarito.

Visiting

The church no longer exists following a long series of reuses—from the arrival of Franciscan nuns of San Damiano in 1242 to suppression in 1782, transfer to the Pio Luogo Pertusati, and conversion into a warehouse in 1813. Apart from examining the external walls along the public streets, all surviving sculpture and painting are accessible inside the Musei Civici.

Our editors' tip

To understand the full extent of this lost landmark, pair a visit to the medieval and Renaissance galleries of the Musei Civici with a stroll along Via Rotari and Via Santa Margherita to spot the embedded Roman and early medieval masonry.

Also in Monreale

Monreale Cathedral 📍 100 m A Christ Pantocrator 13 metres by 7, in a church lined with gold mosaic since 1172. chiesa di San Gaetano 📍 300 m Built around 1710 with its Theatine convent, part of Monreale's early eighteenth-century wave of church building. chiesa di San Castrense 📍 500 m Church and Benedictine convent in central Monreale; the saint also has a chapel among the cathedral's treasures. Castellaccio di Monreale 📍 1.5 km Western Sicily's only fortified monastery, built in the 12th century atop Mount Caputo at 764 metres altitude.

Nearby

The closest places worth seeing as the crow flies, even across province lines.

catacombe dei Cappuccini 📍 Palermo · 5.2 km Palermo's famous underground cemetery housing over a thousand preserved mummies inside 16th-century crypts. Palazzo della Cuba 📍 Palermo · 5.2 km Built in 1180 for King William II, this Norman-Arab pavilion was designed as a cooling summer palace in Palermo. La Zisa 📍 Palermo · 5.7 km A 12th-century Norman summer palace in Palermo housing the Museum of Islamic Art, listed by UNESCO.

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