Chiesa di Santa Maria La Nova

St. Mary La Nova's Church is located in the bottom of the quarry of the same name and is the largest place of worship in the city. Marian devotion in this site is of Byzantine: some sources document the presence of a small church of Sancta Maria Pietatis, similar to the existing church. Its construction went through a complex history, made possible thanks to the Brotherhood that always holds the fate of the Church. Most of the news is related to the building century and subsequent reconstructions. In 1878, in the archive were discovered ancient and valuable manuscripts, including the Sciclitani Codes. The imposing front is the result of an extensive infill intervention of eighteenth-century facade, a portico and loggia, still readable as usual Southeast style, it is a Neoclassical facade-tower. Inside, the result of the last major reconstruction, looks like a spacious vaulted hall with three domed chapels and adjoining side. The deep rectangular choir by Giuseppe Venanzio Marvuglia concludes the large hall, from which it is separated by a triumphal arch. The whole place is full of sculptures, paintings and relics. Attached to the building of the Church, the so-called St. William's Garden, with the homonymous Church and the trunk of the cypress that according to tradition planted by the Saint.