Madonna Annunziata Sanctuary

Monsignor Ludovicus de Torres, the bishop of Monreale whoch visited Bronte in 1574, wrote to have found "altar decenter ornatum" and praised "illum (the substitute of the church, Don Antonio Ciraldo) et confrates (the confraternity of the Madonna Annunziata) et monuit to perfectionem novae fabricae".

Almost fifty years later, in 1625, the bell tower was built (the original door was where the altar of the Natività is found, now to the right coming in).

The façade of the sanctuary was completed in 1631, and few years later, (in 1651) the canopy truss was installed, as it reads on the beam near the chorus.

The chorus and the dome were added in 1811.

The outside

The outside of the church, for the drawing of the bases and openings of the bell tower powerful structure, feels considerably of some architectural conceptions and local constructive techniques.

On the principal façade stand out the portal and the window with tympanum, that under the windowsill shows the date of 1631 (date of completion).
The jambs and the sandstone gable of the door, even though flaked away by time, still present very clearly the simple drawing of flower patterns and figures of little angels and demons in bas-relief that adorn them.

The fresco of the lunette above the door remembers the transport and the arrival, on the church's square, of the two statues by Gagini on a cart trained by oxen.
Around the lunette you can read the inscription "B.M.V. hujus civitatis Patronae principalis restauratum vetustissimum monumentum mirae traslationis simulacres".

Of particular beauty is the bell tower, of 1625, with cusps and of massive proportions, that gives prominence to the set and is characterized by the showy ashlared pillars and the crenellated crown.

The church built in masonry of lava stones, has an hemispheric dome to pointed arch with lantern and wooden trusses on the cabin roof, the ante-chorus and the square presbytery is at only one nave.

L'Annunziata

La Nuova identità

L'alto volere della Corte aveva
messo i Casali in movimento verso
quella unìone che vedeva in Bronte il
      centro vitale.

Poveri alloggi in miseri rioni, 
dava ciascuno lustro ad una chiesa
ove sperava ritrovar la propria
      identità.

Tutti i quartieri però ravvisàro
nell'Annunziata qualcosa in comune,
onde donàro lavoro e denaro in
      gara d'amore.

Quando tra luci e splendore miràro i
rudi pastori la Vergine Santa e
l'Angel celeste, rapito sentìro
      l'essere tutto.

Videro genti, di fiducia colme,
d'ogni Casale colà convenire e
ricuperare nuova una comune
      identità:

da Borgonovo porta una vedova i
segni di cruda violenza subìta,
mentre le bande scorazzano ancora
      libere ovunque;

da Castellàci migrata una donna
quivi conduce tre figli consunti
dalla malarìa e fidente li affida
      alla Madonna;

capitan pure certi che la lava
dalle lor case aveva dispersi
alla ricerca di nuova dimora in
      sede tranquilla;

da carestia afflitti non pochi
vengon ploranti con calore a chiedere il 
sole o la pioggia perchè le campagne
      hanno cuor duro:

sostan qui tutti, riprendon vigore e
una speranza, apparsa svanita,
che fondamento terreno non ha, ma
      solo divino.

Extract from the poem “The Annunciate” that Pasquale Spanò wrote in 1966 (Etnei, Turin, 1993). Tells the legend of the “barter” and the “journey” of the Annunciate statue to Bronte and of the common “new identity” that the inhabitants of the 24 Settlements found in their Protector.

The portal

Some of the sand stone portal’s par­ti­culars (certainly one of the church most ancient part). Though flaked by time, the jambs and the pediment still show clearly the simple flower pat­tern design and the figures of an­gels and demons that decorate them.