Madonna di Portosalvo Church

The old small chapel of the Madonna di Porto Salvo (Safe Harbour) was within the property of the Count Quintana, and stood over the Porto Salvo torrent: today there is a service station.

This Romanesque chapel was built in 1765 as a votive offering after a storm happened two years before when a ship was miraculously saved by the Madonna. The captain of that ship had a very small chapel built 30mt far from the Messina-Catania road and donated a Madonna-and-Child picture with a boat at their feet by him.

The chapel was made wider and cosier around the mid 1800s, but due to the growth in population a church with one nave was later built instead, which was 23.40 meters long and 6.10 meters wide and had a Romanesque bell tower and a square in front. In 1899 the church was affiliated to the Madonna del Carmelo one; in 1943 it became a parish church in its own right. The church was later rebuilt in its current aspect between the years 1952-1958: it now has a 250 square meters surface.

The fresco in the apse, realized by the painter Ignazio Pagano, represented Jesus crowning His Mother, surrounded by angels and God with open arms, showing satisfaction; this fresco got damaged in time, and it was replaced by a mosaic representing the Blessing Jesus, in a Byzantine-Norman style: it was realized by Michele Mellini from Florence, and it was finished in 1995.