CHURCH AND CRYPT OF SANT'EUPLIO

Not everyone knows that S. Euplio is, together with the most revered S. Agata, patron saint of Catania. Its story follows that of the saint and she too, 53 years after Agata's martyrdom, was a Christian martyr imprisoned, tortured and beheaded at the time of Diocletian. The ruins of the church dedicated to him are in via S. Euplio n. ° 29, adjacent to the Villa Bellini. The church was built in the 16th century in the place where an early Christian building existed and withstood the earthquake of the Val di Noto in 1693, but was destroyed by an Allied air raid in 1943. What remains today are two walls, the northern one and the western one, of the single nave that made up the temple. The church area was later repaved in Sicilian terracotta and in the old presbytery, on the western wall, 12 plastic reliefs representing the apostles were placed. Under the remains of the church, going down the steep steps, there is still the crypt of the saint carved into the rock. Originally the crypt was part of a small early Christian basilica. Inside the crypt it is possible to recognize a small altar but instead the fresco depicting the saint is totally destroyed behind it.