Cathedral of San Nicolò - Taormina

The construction of the Cathedral dates back to the thirteenth century on the remains of a church dedicated to San Nicola di Bari. The building underwent numerous rebuilding during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It has a Latin cross structure, with three naves and three apses. The central nave is supported by six columns of pink marble from Taormina with capitals with leaf motifs and fish scales. It is thought that these may have come from the Greco-Roman theater in Taormina. The ceiling is characterized by large wooden beams with shelves carved with Arabic motifs rendered in Gothic style. In the two side naves there are six minor altars

For the architectural severity of the medieval construction and the external fortification elements, the church is nicknamed "the fortress cathedral". The façade is in fact characterized by the crown battlements while on the back stands the bastion tower on which the bells were placed in 1750.

The main portal restored in 1936 and the large Renaissance-inspired central rose window are very beautiful.

Card insertion: Heritage Sicily
Note : The population of the cards of the Heritage database proceeds in incremental phases: cataloging, georeferencing, insertion of information and images. The cultural property in question has been cataloged, georeferenced and the first information entered. In order to enrich the informative contents, further contributions are welcome, if you wish you can contribute by providing information and / or images also through the facebook group "Heritage Sicily"

Find out more on Data bank of the Material Heritage of Sicily

Get to know the Sicilian Cultural Heritage databases: Data Maps Heritage