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The exterior, the portal and the bell tower of the Church of the former Monastery of Santa Scolastica, dedicated to Pope St. Sylvester I. It is the only consecrated church in Bronte whose rite was officiated by Cardinal De Luca on 31 October 1851 (to pay homage to his aunt, the abbess of the monastery of Santa Scolastica).
This is what can be read on a marble plaque built into the counter-façade of the left side of the altar: «Templum hoc solemnitur consecra­tum et dedi­catum fuit D.O.M. sub invocatione S. Silvestri P.P.ab ill.mo et Rev.mo D.no Antonino Xaverio De Luca Brontesi Episcopo Aversano. Die XXXI Octobris MDCCCLI.».

The inside of the church

The original internal appearance of the church underwent major renovations in 1828: the happy idea of ​​cleaning and restoring the beamed roof and the festive decorations in pure gold blackened by time and candle smoke was not had. The roof was replaced, almost entirely, with the current vaulted roof (only a few traces of the old roof are still visible in the choir).

The interior, with a prevalent longitudinal development, is rectangular in shape with an apse and endonarthex divided into two levels (vestibule on the ground floor and choir on the upper floor) and a presbytery with an apse and slightly raised from the floor of the hall. In the left arch of the second span is the chapel of San Benedetto, with a quadrangular plan and a circular dome covering, with an entrance in the sacristy.

The church has seven altars, a choir (in which you can still admire what remains of the original wooden ceiling) and an ancient organ that is no longer functioning. Radice writes that "the first altar is that of St. Mary of Egypt, then comes that of the Presentation of Mary at the Temple; on the left, first the altar of the Crucifix, then comes the chapel of St. Benedict with the entrance to the sacristy and the altar of the Madonna del Carmelo. The main altar is dedicated to the Holy Spirit."

The interiors are defined by an eclectic decorative apparatus that divides the space of the hall into three bays in addition to the presbytery. The golden diamond decorations of the ceiling of the nave and the apse stand out, as well as the alternating motif of arches and pilasters barely in relief that mark the score of the flat side walls.

The marble furnishings of the altars (all from the mid-1800s) are in sculpted and inlaid polychrome marble.

The name of S. Silvestro Papa was given to the church in 1950 when it was elevated to a Parish. For the people of Bronte, however, the ancient name has always remained: "A Batia" (the Abbey).

The monastery of Santa Scolastica

The monastery of Santa Scolastica was built on the left of the church in 1610 as wanted by the Council and the citizens of Bronte and it was very thriving (in 1714 it was lodging forty five nuns).

The oldest image of the church and the adjoining monastery is shown on the right: presumably it is from the first half of the 19th century; in fact, on the left of the square you cannot still see the municipal theater which was completed under the mayorship of Antonino Cimbali in the second half of the same century (click on the image to see it in good resolution and colour).

A tradition, alive yet between our elders, remembers as near the monastery it was the so-called "Ruota dei projetti" ("wheel of the rejected"): the revolving mechanism with which the nuns were keeping contacts with the world outside, during the night some people used it to leave the children "rejetti", "projetti", abandoned by their mothers.
After being received by the nuns who gave them the first attentions and baptized, the children were then entrusted to the administrative organs of the Council (which  entrusted them again, together with some money, often to the same mothers).
The monastery of female seclusion was partially destroyed by the earthquake of 1818 which made collapse the southern wing, then suppressed in consequence of the laws of 1866 that sanctioned the alienation of the ecclesiastical possessions (together with it had been suppressed also the Basilian monastery annexed to the San Blandano church) and at last totally demolished in the first half of last century.

The demolition completely modified the principal prospect of the church: a secondary entry was opened next to the principal entry and the order of the windows was also changed in the higher part.

Such modifications upset the environmental relationship between the church and the urban context even if the building, on whose right side the monument "ai Caduti" (to the fallen) was recently laid, remained however the principal architectural element characte­rising the plaza.

Stands out and characterise the outside of the church a big buttress wall in masonry set on the right side and, on via Gari­baldi, a cylindrical lantern with blind apertures, placed above the covering of the chapel of S. Benedetto.

The form and the function recall analogous elements of Byzantine architecture. Simple the portal in lava stone with jambs and cornices of Renaissance taste.

The original internal aspect of the church underwent big renovations in 1828: gone were the joyous decorations in first-quality gold and the trussed roof which was replaced, almost in full, with the current vault covering covering some traces of the old cantors' area.

The Holy Inquisition in Bronte

The historian Benedetto Radice writes that in the XVI° century, under the Spanish rule, the Holy Inquisition was present in force even in Bronte, where a general commis­sary and "eight familiares", eight, suitably named cops or ministers, had the task to control and denounce the heretics.

Of the people of Bronte prosecuted by the Sant' Office, besides the rural Antonino Gorgone, nicknamed Galluzzo and Tommaso Schiros, eloquent orator, theologian and writer, that, accused of heresy, was sentenced to four years of jail, deserves to be remembered also sister Frances Spitaleri Bertino of the Tertiary of S. Francesco, now completely forgotten.

Of high culture, she wrote religious works and had holiness reputation; some people were saying that she had received Christ's stigmata and that she talked to God and to the angels in her frequent visions.

Accused of heresy, had a first sentence (1621); "...to escape the stake, abjured and was sent for seven years to serve in a hospital".

Subsequently, considered a heretical impenitent, was submitted to a new process and sent to jail in Palermo".

The poor woman, foreseeing the most varied punishments and the sentence to the stake, tried to escape from the jail and a night of the September 1640 she lowered herself down with a bad rope, made with the wool of her mattress.

The rope broke and the poor nun found a cruel death falling heavily to the ground.

"Despite this, the process went on just the same"; they confiscated her possessions, condemned her memory and burned her body and her writings.

"One ignores why and to whom the innocuous little nun of Bronte could have been dangerous, to the point to undergo such an obstinate persecution and such atrocious end".

The Sister Frances vicissitude is resumed also by the poet and essayist bronte­se Pasquale Spanò  in his book "Once upon a time there was the Rizzonito - Bronte in the history of Europe" (Turin, 1993).
To sister Frances ("innocent victim offered to God as holocaust to supreme expiation"), Pasquale Spanò in the book "Etnei" (Turin, 1963) dedicates also a poetry of his ("Francesca").

Many and also precious vestments and holy vessels belonging to the church, are signs of ancient devotion and splendor.