Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli

The church is in Via dei Miracoli, where once stood the ancient church of St. George. It was the bishop Gabriele Dalmazio to give her the present name in memory of the miracle that ended the plague of 1500 performed by an image of the Virgin Mary.

Of this old image, which was supposed to be painted in a wall, there is no trace and, in its place, is considered as such a sculpture of a bust of the Madonna and Child by an unknown of the fifteenth century, which is on the main altar. The church was heavily damaged by the 1693 earthquake, but it was rebuilt the following year.

Element of prestige is the elegant Renaissance style marble portal flanked by grooved half-columns, perhaps of the school of Gagini, on which lintel are engraved  the date of construction, the coat of arms of Bishop Dalmazio and of the city of Syracuse and an image of St. Lucia. Of particular interest is the lunette in which there is a sculpture of the Madonna with the Child between St. Roch and St. Sebastian. Inside the marble jambs are carved floral reliefs and on the doorway two small crouched lions. Beautiful and elegant the Catalan style shrine, next to the left side of the portal, has a pentagonal shape and includes a reproduction of the Madonna and Child by Giovanni della Robia. It is bordered by a frame on which base there are two angels with open wings.

The various transformations and overlays due to the construction of fortifications have changed both the plan of the road, so the marble door was lowered, as shown by some marble blocks unprocessed there positioned, and the internal staircase to access to the church. The interior has a nave and has as main feature the arch that marks the apse, decorated with zoomorphic figures, something quite unusual for the Aragonese period.

The church houses a wooden statue of St. Lucia which was carried in procession before the silver statue we now admire was built.

 Text taken from “Religious architecture in Ortigia” Lucia Acerra, EDIPRINT, 1995.