San Biagio, Nicosia

San Biagio (Saint Blaise) is a Roman Catholic church located on via Francesco Randazzo #24 in the town of Nicosia, in the province of Enna, region of Sicily, Italy.

History and Description

A church at this site was built by 1433, adjacent to a Benedictine monastery. It was enlarged and refurbished in 1698 and 1729. A final restoration occurred in 2010-2011. The exterior of the church is nondescript flat with a large cornice over a rectangular stone portal. After the late 19th-century suppression of the monasteries, part of this monastery was converted to private use, but a section was used as the local seminary for the bishopric until 1960.

The church has a single nave; the interior is richly decorated in late-Baroque stucco with gilded accents, completed by Serafino Perollo. The main altar has five canvases completed by Giuseppe Velasco from 1772 to 1775:

  • St Blaise heals one sick with bubonic plague
  • Extasis of Ste Scholastica
  • Martyrdom of St Placidus and his companions
  • Presentation of Jesus at the temple
  • St Benedict topples the statue of Apollo

Behind the canvas of St Blaise is an icon of the saint (1600) completed by Giovanni Battista Li Volsi. He also sculpted a Flagellation of Christ located in the church. Housed in the church is a wooden tabernacle, originally from the church of Santa Maria di Gesù by either Pietro Bencivinni or a follower.[1]

References
  1. Eco Museo Nicosia, website, entry on church.
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