Chiesa di San Bartolomeo

Southeastern Sicily


Although its origins lie in the 15th century, the luminous church standing today was built between the mid-18th and late-19th centuries. Like many of Scicli's churches, the facade consists of three orders. Here, the bottom columns are Doric, the middle columns Ionic and the top columns Corinthian. Giovanni Gianforma's rich rococo stuccowork adorns the interior, whose treasures include Francesco Pascucci's late 18th-century altarpiece Martyrdom of St Bartholomew and a monumental 18th-century presepe (nativity crib) attributed to Neapolitan craftsman Pietro Padula.

Keeping the crib company in the left transept is The Deposition from the Cross, attributed to Mattia Preti, one of the great Italian painters of the 17th century.