Chiesa San Domenico

"The church of San Domenico was built by Giovan Vincenzo Tagliavias, lord of the city, in 1470. Was the favorite church by local lords who wanted to decorate it with stucco and frescoes of exquisite workmanship performed by Antonino Ferraro from Giuliana in 1574 - '80. It 'a seminal work in the history of architecture in Sicily; is, in fact, one of the most significant examples of the Sicilian mannerisms that heralds the imminent Baroque. The clients of Don Carlo d'Aragona, the first Prince of Castelvetrano and later president of the United, governor of Milan, viceroy of Catalonia, President of the Council of Italy, "could explain, beyond the pomp, the 'internationality of the ways explained , who enter the work hitherto unjustly neglected, best decoration in the South "(Barricelli). For an external façade and simple, contrasts a richly decorated with stucco, frescoes and scrolls. Of particular value are the chapel and the chapel choir, decorated by the aforementioned Ferraro from Juliana. A particular cause for admiration "Tree of Jesse", group of statues on the front, above the arch of triumph: Jesse, lying on a floor supported by brackets, supports a family tree whose branches are entrusted to the twelve kings who succeeded him to the Virgin Mary, placed at the top, crowned by angels. "I work only for the novelty of male thinking and bold, for the bulk of fourteen statues over the natural, arranged in different attitudes, seem to detach from the wall and stand in the air" (Riga). Numerous works of art preserved in the church, including a marble sarcophagus on which is carved the figure of Ferdinand Tagliavias and Aragon, who died in 1549, and some paintings, among which deserves to be remembered a copy of "Torment of Sicily" Raphael, painted by Giovanni Paolo Cremonese Bottoms. Also in the choir, in the right corner, under the impost of the time, the self-portrait of Anthony Ferraro, creator of indoor decoration. Next to the church is the convent of San Domenico with the beautiful cloister, now fully restored and home to the High School. "