Duomo di San Nicola di Bari

The Duomo di San Nicola di Bari is Termini Imerese's mother church, rebuilt from the seventeenth century onward on Piazza Duomo. It preserves major works of Sicilian painting and sculpture, including Pietro Ruzzolone's double-sided crucifix dated 1484.

Why it matters

The church, known in older records as the Maggior Chiesa, is the parish seat of San Nicola under the Archdiocese of Palermo. Its interior brings together works from the fifteenth to twentieth centuries, while its long rebuilding history is reflected in a facade completed in 1912.

What to notice

Ruzzolone's 1484 tempera crucifix shows Christ on the cross with the Virgin, Saint John and Mary Magdalene; the reverse depicts the Risen Christ. Behind the high altar is a marble Virgin in Throne attributed to Giuliano Mancino and Bartolomeo Berrettaro. Other works include a marble Madonna della Mazza recorded as by Giorgio da Milano and an oval of the Vergine del Ponte attributed to Ignazio Marabitti. The sacristy preserves vestments, furnishings and sacred objects from several centuries.

Context and history

A church dedicated to Santa Maria la Nova and San Nicolò preceded the present building. A design commission for its replacement is dated to 1604 and associated with Antonio Spadafora. The first order of the facade was complete by 1660, while the upper part was finished in 1912. Later additions include a marble group of the Beato Agostino Novello by Filippo Sgarlata at the central portal. A Corinthian cornice fragment at the bell tower is linked by local tradition to the story of Stenio and Verres.