Description
The Church of Sant'Elia is a Baroque church from 1694 in the center of Messina, on the street of the same name near Santa Caterina di Valverde: one of the few in the city to have come through earthquakes and wars partly intact, with its interior still decorated.
The single nave is a web of stucco work, cherubs, garlands and Corinthian pilasters all the way up to the cornice. The frescoes tell of the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, the Baptism in the Jordan and Moses striking water from the rock: they come from the workshop of the Filocamo, Messina painters of the early 18th century.
On the high altar of polychrome marble stands a marble Madonna della Lettera. To go in you walk down a few steps: the church is at the level of the street as it was before 1908.
The confraternity of Sant'Elia already existed in the 15th century: in 1462 it commissioned a banner from Antonello da Messina, as a notary's deed proves.
The single nave is a web of stucco work, cherubs, garlands and Corinthian pilasters all the way up to the cornice. The frescoes tell of the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, the Baptism in the Jordan and Moses striking water from the rock: they come from the workshop of the Filocamo, Messina painters of the early 18th century.
On the high altar of polychrome marble stands a marble Madonna della Lettera. To go in you walk down a few steps: the church is at the level of the street as it was before 1908.
The confraternity of Sant'Elia already existed in the 15th century: in 1462 it commissioned a banner from Antonello da Messina, as a notary's deed proves.