Cattedrale di San Tommaso di Canterbury

Marsala’s cathedral is dedicated to Saint Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury martyred in 1170. A Norman church was begun here in 1176; the present structure combines that medieval foundation with later Baroque alterations and restorations.

Why it matters

The cathedral has occupied the civic and religious centre of Marsala through centuries of rebuilding. Its unusual dedication is linked by local tradition to a ship carrying Corinthian columns that was wrecked off the coast; the columns were said to have been reused in the church’s original porch. The story is a legend, while the Norman-era construction and subsequent phases are recorded in municipal sources.

What to notice

The Baroque façade is arranged in two horizontal registers, with niches, decorative cornices, corner bell towers and statues of saints. Inside, a barrel vault covers the central nave. The cathedral also holds paintings, vestments and liturgical objects in precious metals, while the Museo degli Arazzi is located behind the church.

Context and history

Municipal records date the beginning of construction to 1176. The building was enlarged between 1473 and 1600; work on the present cathedral was authorised in 1607, and it reopened for worship in 1656. Giovanni Biagio Amico designed the nave’s barrel vault in 1717. A dome completed in 1827 collapsed in 1892, according to the municipal tourism portal, and was restored in 1903 and again after the Second World War.