The church of the Santissimo Crocifisso in Alcamo is often also called the church of San Francesco di Paola, to whom the parish and the former friary next door are dedicated, or the church of the Santo Padre. In 1542 the nobleman Pietro Tabone, maternal grandfather of the poet Sebastiano Bagolino, obtained land from the council for a chapel in honour of the Holy Crucifix, then the town's patron, and in 1550 he founded it. It is the seat of the Confraternity of the Holy Crucifix, which in 1565 obtained from the count of Modica a fifteen-day free fair for the feast of 3 May.
What to see
The convex façade dates from 1695. The interior has a single nave with five altars and stuccoes by Nicolò Curti of 1750. On the high altar is a nineteenth-century wooden crucifix by Francesco Marino of Trapani; other works include a canvas of the Madonna dei Miracoli between Saint Francis of Paola and Saint Francis de Sales, of 1750, a wooden Saint Francis of Paola perhaps by Filippo Quattrocchi of Gangi, a Saint Vitus of 1848 and a holy water stoup carved in 1606 by Giuseppe Foti.
On the nave walls four old canvases in stucco frames tell miracles of Saint Francis of Paola: the two workmen killed in a landslide while building the friary at Paterno Calabro and brought back to life by the saint, the miracle of the fish, the newborn without eyes or mouth healed before a noble family, and the conversion of the King of Naples.
Visiting
Short of funds, in 1596 the confraternity entrusted the church to the Minim friars of Saint Francis of Paola, who built the friary in 1608 and kept it until 1866; in 1926 the church became a parish. Mass and opening times should be checked with the parish.
Our editors' tip
The sacristy holds a crucifix in mistura by Giovanni Matinati dated 1549, a year before the church was founded.
