The Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Consolazione (Italian: Santuario di Santa Maria della Consolazione) is a Roman Catholic Marian Sanctuary church located at the end of via Provvidenza Virgillito Providenza, on a hill-top South-West of Paternò in Sicily. It is also known as the Santuario della Madonna Santissima della Consolazione.
History
A smaller church had been built at this site to honor a putative apparition in 1580 of the Virgin Mary to a young woman tending her goats in the field. Called the chapel of Santa Maria del Pietoso; in 1616, the named was changed to Maria SS. della Consolazione. In 1935, the church was made into a sanctuary by the archbishop of Catania. During World War II, the former church was nearly razed by bombardments. The present church, in a neo-Romanesque style, was not completed until 1954 under the patronage of Michelangelo Virgillito.[1] The design of the present church was by the engineer Rosario La Russa. The interior has frescoes, painted against a Byzantine style gilded background, by Archimede Cirinnà.[2] Other frescoes in church were by Antonio Majocchi.
