Santa Maria del Rosario (also called the ''Chiesa Madre'' or mother church) is the mian

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church building in the town of

Motta Sant'Anastasia Motta Sant'Anastasia () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo and about west of Catania. Geography Motta Sant'Anastasia borders the following ...

, province of

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

, Sicily.

History

A church was built at the site by the 13th-century, arising adjacent to the Norman castle, and built also tall with similar stone blocks. The original layout was centralized, but the church was enlarged in the 15th and 16th centuries leading to the Latin Cross layout it has present. The bell-tower was only added in the 18th-century. It was dedicated to the ''Maria Santissima del Rosario'' or ''Holiest Mary of the Rosary'', an altarpiece in this church dedicated to this Marian devotion attributed to the school of

Antonello da Messina Antonello da Messina, properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio, but also called Antonello degli Antoni and Anglicized as Anthony of Messina ( 1430February 1479), was an Italian painter from Messina, active during the Early Italian Renaissance. ...

. There is also a crucifix and painting of the Madonna del Carmelo from the 16th century.Etna Portal tourism site
short entry on church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Rosario Motta Sant'Anastasia 13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy