Cattedrale di San Bartolomeo

Patti’s cathedral is the seat of one of Sicily’s oldest dioceses. Founded as a Benedictine abbey church in 1094, it was reshaped by earthquakes and rebuilding; its interior preserves a Norman portal, granite columns from Tindari and the marble tomb of Queen Adelasia.

Why it matters

The cathedral belongs to the Norman reorganisation of Sicily. A diploma of 6 March 1094 records Count Roger’s foundation of the Benedictine monastery of SS. Salvatore at Patti, and the church of San Bartolomeo was elevated to cathedral in 1131. Queen Adelasia, who died at Patti in 1118, is commemorated by a sixteenth-century marble tomb within the church.

What to notice

The west front retains a Norman pointed-arch portal with terracotta columns and carved capitals. A later Baroque portal, dated 1742, opens on the south side. Inside, chapels in the transept are framed by Egyptian granite columns brought from the ancient city of Tindari. The Chapel of Santa Febronia contains the Renaissance sarcophagus of Queen Adelasia. Along the cathedral’s flank, the thirteenth-century Galleria has four pointed arches; it was uncovered during works in 1980.

Context and history

The cathedral’s present form reflects repeated rebuilding. The original Norman layout was altered in 1639 and again after the earthquake of 1693; later work produced a Latin-cross plan with a single nave and transept chapels. The building was enlarged and decorated with stucco in 1824. The 1908 earthquake reduced it to ruins, and reconstruction begun in 1927 was completed around 1940. After damage in 1943, further consolidation followed the 1978 Gulf of Patti earthquake. The current altar, using elements of the earlier polychrome marble altar, was consecrated in 1995.