Chiesa di Santa Maria La Nova

The Chiesa di Santa Maria La Nova, in Scicli’s Santa Maria La Nova ravine, is dedicated to the Pietà. A 1567 bequest by Pietro Di Lorenzo Busacca supported the church’s development; its principal documented building campaigns ran from 1798 to 1851. It opened for worship in 1857 and became the town’s civic Marian sanctuary in 1994.

Why it matters

A 1567 testament by Pietro Di Lorenzo Busacca provided for the church’s development. The church bears the title Santa Maria La Nova della Pietà and was erected as the Santuario Mariano Cittadino “Maria Santissima della Pietà” in 1994. Its long construction history, from the 1798 apsidal works to the mid-nineteenth-century vaults, gives it a distinct place within the Baroque fabric of Scicli.

What to notice

The three-order facade is articulated by pilasters, and the bell tower is decorated with garlands and a local-stone balustrade. Inside, three aisles run between six cupola-topped chapels. The Nativity of Mary canvas has been attributed both to Sebastiano Conca and, more recently, to Tommaso Pollace. Near the entrance, the vestibule preserves remains of the facade of the earlier church of Santa Maria della Pietà, dated by the municipality to the sixth or seventh century. The church also holds a simulacrum of the Vergine della Pietà, whose attribution is debated, a silver Immacolata dated 1843, and the Cristo Risorto known as l’Uomo Vivo, dated 1796.

Context and history

An apsidal reworking began in 1798 to a design by engineer G. Venanzio Marvuglia. Cardona directed the works, and Emanuele and Domenico Ruiz completed the stuccoes in 1801. A second campaign, from 1817 to 1851, added the vault with stuccoes by Gianforma. The church opened for worship in 1857. The Busacca bequest of 1567 provided for its development, and in 1994 it was designated a civic Marian sanctuary.