San Sebastiano is a

Baroque style The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (i ...

church in the town of

Palazzolo Acreide Palazzolo Acreide ( Sicilian: ''Palazzolu'', in the local dialect: ''Palazzuolu'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily ( southern Italy). It is from the city of Syracuse in the Hyblean Mountains. It is one of I Borghi ...

, province of Siracusa, region of

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, Italy.

History and description

A church at the site, also dedicated to St Sebastian, stood at the site since the 15th century, next to a smaller church dedicated to St Roch (San Rocco). It was enlarged in the 16th and 17th centuries but, like most of the edifices of Palazzolo, was destroyed in 1693 by a huge earthquake. In the early 18th century a new edifice was built, with a nave and two aisles. The monumental façade was begun in 1723, designed by the Siracusan sculptor Mario Diamanti. It was completed, along with the

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

, in 1768. The church is noteworthy for its fine Baroque decorations, including a wide use of stuccoes in the interior. The vault of the central

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

has three large 19th-century frescoes, while the altars are decorated with polychrome marbles, with

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

s or statues portraying saints. The central nave ends with an

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

including the St Crucifix Chapel and a majestic marble high altar, with a 17th-century crucifix. Other artworks include the titular saint's statue (by an unknown artist, 1663), a statue of the Madonna, the organ (1728-29) and a painting of ''St. Marguerite'' (1758) by

Olivio Sozzi Olivio may refer to: * Olivio (restaurant), Dutch Michelin starred restaurant People * Olívio Dutra Olívio de Oliveira Dutra (; born 10 June 1941 in Bossoroca, Rio Grande do Sul) is a Brazilian politician. He is a founding member of the W ...

.Comune of Palazzolo Acreide
information on parish.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sebastiano Palazzolo Acreide Roman Catholic churches completed in 1768 1760s establishments in Italy 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Roman Catholic churches in Palazzolo Acreide Baroque church buildings in Sicily