Chiesa Santa Maria di Gesù (Minori Osservanti)

The construction of the Convent of the Observant Minor Fathers and of the Church adjacent to it, Santa Maria di Gesù, dates back, as is clear from the documents of Don Bernardo Oddo, a historian from Vienna, who left manuscripts that describe the history of the convent, around the thirteenth century , even if there are no certain sources of the year of birth. In 1693 the convent and the church collapsed due to a terrible earthquake; only the cloister of the convent remains intact. Don Bernardo Oddo, who saw the church both before and after the reconstruction of 1693, describes it thus: '' The church proves to have been anciently three-tiered with a ship in the middle, fashionable in French architecture, nowadays only the middle aisle with two chapels in the entrance of the large door has sunk, compared to the church, hammer shape, and both on the frontispiece .... ''. It is hypothesized that in ancient times the church had three naves but of this data there is no certain information, indeed, in my opinion, it is very difficult to find out how it was, also because the various constructions and reconstructions occurred over time, both in the church and in the convent and both in the areas adjacent to them have canceled all the evidence that could certify the past of the three-nave church. The convent of the observant minor fathers was precisely the fathers until 7 July 1866, the day on which, following a law, religious corporations were suppressed. Therefore, only one area of ​​the convent was used as an elementary school and a state gymnasium, then as a hospice and finally as a seat of the G. Verga gymnasium. Currently in that area of ​​the convent there is the headquarters of the "Pentagram", a cultural association, which serves as a music school, while the rest initially remained with the PP. Observant, while today it is unused. Inside the church, today we can admire, in all its splendor, a statue of the Madonna and Child in alabaster, by Gagini, from 1527 and the paintings depicting S. Chiara and Santa Filomena, the latter work by the Vizzinese P. Ant. You can also observe statues of S. Francesco, S. Antonio, the Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Conception. An organ was also installed. The convent of the Observant Friars Minor, adjacent to the Church, was built in 1429. In the cloister there was a characteristic well in the center and scenes of the life of St. Francis were portrayed on the walls.