CHURCH OF S. FRANCESCO D'ASSISI AT IMMACULATA

It stands on the eastern side of the square of the same name, at the center of which is the monument to Cardinal Dusmet and which also houses, at Palazzo Gravina Cruyllas, the museum house of Vincenzo Bellini and the Emilio Greco museum. A flight of volcanic stone steps provides access to the high base on which the church stands. The site has very ancient origins and was the site of a temple dedicated to the goddess Demeter. On this site Eleonora D'angios, wife of Frederick III of Aragon, in 1329 had the Franciscan church with adjoining convent built as a thanksgiving to the Virgin for the narrow escape from danger due to the eruption of the same year. The earthquake that destroyed Catania and the Val Di Noto in 1683 also destroyed the 14th-century complex of St. Francis of Assisi. The overall design of the new church is in the groove of the Catania Baroque. The façade on two orders is contained on the sides by towers, the surfaces of the front advance and retract, the animated overhangs of the cornices are supported by Corinthian half-columns; at the top, in the upper order, the statue of the Virgin dominates in the center on a slightly projecting podium, at the sides on pedestals the statues of St. Francis and St. Anthony. The interior, in the shape of a Latin cross, has three naves with cap