Bronte's City/Monuments - Holy Mary of Graces

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Simple, unitary, octagonal in shape

Holy Mary of Graces

The rural little church of Holy Madonna of The Graces is located beyond the urban perimeter; set at the entry of the town (coming from Adrano) and stands on a strongly sloping ground, boxed in with respect to the provincial road. Architecturally the church is very simple and compact.

It exists since the XVI° century, as it appears in the writings of the time that remember the pastoral visit of the Monreale bishop Monsignor Torres in 1574 (the "Liber visitationis").

The building has volumetric simple and unitary shape; with no architectural style of its own, but an octagonal typology, very unique in his kind in Bronte, gives her an interesting aspect.

At the entry a rectangular aedicule contains the image of the Madonna that stands over a big lava round arch portal.

The inside, also very simple, work by Nicolò Dinaro (Biancavilla, 1834 -- Bronte, 1908) has a roof turned to "umbrella" with frescos of 1896 representing the Marriage of the Virgin, the Annunciation and the birth of Jesus, work of Nicolò Dinaro (Biancavilla, 1834 - Bronte, 1908).

"Here, within the squares arranged around the Eternal, leap the plentiful but quick ornamentation of white and gray circles that frame and animate somewhat, the scenes of the Virgin's life". (Vito Librando).

There are three altars dedicated to the saints Cosma and Damiano, to San Domenico (work by Carlo Laccati) and, the central one, to the Madonna delle Grazie (Holy Madonna of The Graces).

At the back, there are two small rooms, once sacristy, that now are used as storerooms.

Lately the little church, like many other churches of Bronte, is in a state of nearly abandon; is visited by believers only few times a year on the recurrence of the Madonna of the Graces and other Saints.

And this has always been. Even the historian of Bronte Benedetto Radice wrote in the early decades of 1900: "On the day of the titular party, the clergy make the solitary church echo with songs and prayers".

Near the church there once existed a fountain (called the Madonna delle Grazie) which, wrote the Root, "quenched thousands of people, and that for some years has been diverted by private individuals for their own use" ("... some private individuals have broken the conduit and diverted the current and vandalically destroyed the watering hole ").

Above left, an old photo of the small rural church of Madonna delle Grazie. Today, the usual landscape destruction has resulted in the construction of a shapeless heap of scrap metal to the left of the entrance to the small church (which should represent the bell tower) and several houses further down the valley, whose height and construction technique significantly mar the landscape.
Behind the church, there is no longer the backdrop of the Simeto Valley, but a tall, modern, and tasteless building. The façade of the small church is now irreparably compromised by the new road system and the surrounding environment.

In the photo on the right, the shrine of the Madonna and Child, now almost faded and barely legible, sits above the entrance portal.

Currently, the church, like many other churches in Bronte, is generally closed and in a state of near-abandoned disrepair. On the few occasions a year when it is open, typically on the traditional feast of the Madonna delle Grazie (November 21) and the patron saints, it is frequented by many faithful. And this has always been the case. Indeed, even Bronte historian Benedetto Radice wrote this in the early 1900s: "Only on the day of the titular feast does the clergy make the solitary little church echo with song and prayer."

	Translated by Sam Di Bella
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