The Mother Church

The Mother Church of Solarino, started in 1764 and completed a century later, is divided in three naves by four arches supported by columns.

In the left nave you can admire the altar of St. Francis of Assisi with a wooden statue resembling the saint himself, the altar of the Holy Virgin with a beautiful statue and the statue of Our Lady of the Sorrow, set into a niche.

In the right nave there is the altar of St. Joseph with a papier-maché statue of the saint himself, the altar of the Madonna del Carmine dominated by the wooden and papier-maché statue of the Virgin with Child as well as the statue of St. Theresa of Avila adorning a niche, and finally the altar of Christ to the Column dedicated to St. Francis of Paola.

At the end of the nave, inside the chapel of the Holy Sacrament, there is the wooden statue of the Sacred Heart.

The central nave houses a huge organ with 569 pipes and 9 stops, as well as the Triumphal Arch opening right in the centre of the nave.

In the marble high altar, which replaces the preceding wooden altar destroyed by a fire, stands out the Conversion of St. Paul, a valuable painting.

Of great importance are the ninfe, the lights. When in Solarino there was no electric power, these worked with candles which were replaced by standard lamps the night of December 8, 1922 when the public illumination was inaugurated.

The sacristy is full of masterpieces, such as the beautiful wooden statues representing the Annunciation and Gabriel the archangel.