Sanctuary and convent of Carmine - Ispica
The Sanctuary of the Carmine, is one of the most evocative places of the city of Ispica. It is a place of deep devotion almost isolated from the city. To access the district called Cozzo Carmine, bordered by the two valleys of the Cava Grande and the Cava del Tuono, a place of peace you must follow the narrow streets that allow you to reach Piazza Statella where there are the church of Carmine and the convent. The original complex was destroyed by the earthquake of 1693 and was rebuilt, thanks to the funds of the Marquis Andrea Statella, during the eighteenth century. It must have been one of the few places on the Calandra hill to be built when the ancient Spaccaforno was still in the fortress of the Cava. The church, a Marian shrine in the city since 1985 dedicated to Our Lady of Carmel, patron saint of the city, has a simple facade with a single order bordered by pilasters, at the peak of which there is the bell tower. At the center of the facade there is the portal, decorated with some late Renaissance bas-reliefs, probably recovered from the previous building that, according to some sources, was founded in 1534 and dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria and only later was dedicated to Our Lady of Carmel. These bas-reliefs, integrated with two others made in the twentieth century, depict the Carmelite fathers Saint Albert of Jerusalem, Saint Angel, Saint Albert of the Abbots and the Venerable Statella. The keystone of the central portal is a puttino that holds the date 1632 and, a little higher, there are two other puttines that hold the coat of arms of the Statella family, which became the coat of arms of the city of Ispica, also these antecedents to the earthquake. The broken tympanum of the central portal frames the lower part of the window that i dominated by a niche with spiral columns in which the statue of the Madonna del Carmelo is preserved. Inside the church is a single nave and on the side walls there are eight chapels, four on each side. The chapels are decorated with spiral columns and stucco and contain several paintings of the eighteenth century including the Transit of Saint Joseph, the Madonna del Carmine between Carmelite Saints, Mary between Saints Augustine and Anthony, Mary between Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Agnes. The main altar of the church, with a concave structure with Corinthian columns, houses the wooden statue of the Madonna del Carmelo, depicted the Virgin with a child in her arms and the keys of the city. The convent has a very simple facade on two levels. The central portal is framed by a smooth ashlar while the only balcony of the facade retains the late decorations in the shelves with the masks that support the balcony.
From the central portal leads to a courtyard porch, remained incomplete for the upper part, in the center of which there is a well. On this courtyard there are several rooms, including the large hall of the convent, covered with cross vaults. Upstairs, there are the monks’ cells. With the suppression of the religious orders and the removal of the Carmelite monks in the late nineteenth century, the convent was used in different ways: registry office of the City, headquarters of the fascist army, hospital and school. Today it houses the Dominican Sisters of the Sacred Heart.
A peaceful place to visit. Good walk!
