The church of Santa Maria dell'Itria, called by the people of Marsala the Chiesa dell'Itria and colloquially also the Chiesa del Cimitero, is a religious building in Marsala with an adjoining monastery of the Discalced Augustinians, at piazza Sant'Agostino 7, dedicated to the Madonna Hodegetria; it stands over a grotto in which the sacred image of the Madonna dell'Itria is venerated.
What to see
The façade has a clear Baroque impact: an entrance portal flanked by two twisted columns on high plinths carrying a broken pediment; in the pediment a niche in white stone houses the statue of the Madonna dell'Itria, with hands raised and the Christ Child on a chest held by two hermits, between two further statues. The roof is topped by a cross and between the façade wall and the monastery roof is a small bell tower with three niches. The interior, in neoclassical style, is a single nave, with a high altar and minor side altars, covered by a barrel vault with lunettes; each altar has a marble tabernacle. Among the works are an eighteenth-century wooden crucifix, four paintings of the story of Saint Augustine, statues of Saint Augustine, of Nicholas of Tolentino and of Saint Rita of Cascia and, in the apse, a painting of the Holy Family, a copy of Murillo's The Two Trinities, whose original is in the National Gallery in London. On the right, in a sarcophagus, rests Father Elia di Gesù e Maria, a discalced Augustinian from Marsala, after whom a street was named in 2016.
Itria is a corruption of the Byzantine Greek Hodegetria, «she who guides»: the epithet means the Madonna who shows the way, represented by the Christ Child held in her arms and pointed to with the mother's right hand. The church and monastery were built between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries after the discovery of the painting of the Madonna dell'Itria and of the miracle connected with it, and have always been the seat of the Discalced Augustinians of Marsala. The interior was seriously damaged: during wars, the Second World War included, soldiers took refuge in the church and to keep warm lit fires, burning the furnishings, including paintings and works of art of great value; the exterior, by contrast, has kept its original front and style.
Visiting
The church is at piazza Sant'Agostino 7, in Marsala. Adjacent is the archaeological area of the Niccolini, with catacombs: the sources consulted give no opening hours and do not say whether they can be visited, and this should be checked. For some years the church has organised the feast of Saint Rita of Cascia, with a novena, a triduum, a procession and the blessing of roses.
Our editors' tip
From the gate on the right side, near the entrance, one reaches the grotto where the painting was found: in 2018, after a restoration, a fresco of 1200 came back to light showing a Virgin in prayer, hands raised and without the Child, which had been covered by other frescoes and then by the canvas of the Madonna dell'Itria; on the walls are eighteenth-century low-relief stuccoes by the Marsala craftsman Vincenzo Giglio, with angels holding up a crown.
