Grand Priory of S. Andrea

It is the oldest church in Piazza Armerina. It was founded towards the first decades of 1100 most likely by Count Simone Aleramico, nephew of Count Ruggero, and not in 1096 by Simone, son of Count Ruggero, (who was then only three years old), as tradition dictates; entrusted to the Canons of Sant'Agostino and enriched with ample endowment, it was donated in 1148 by the aforementioned Count Simone and his wife Thomasia to the order of the Holy Sepulcher. The cross-shaped plan develops in a long nave, dominated by an elevated transept with very pronounced arms, on which the main apse and two side apses open, engraved in the large wall, which repeat the Arab motif of the column inalveolated in the jambs . Recently (1958-1962) the removal of a dull impasto of 1830 revealed the presence of a series of frescoes, dating from the XNUMXth to the XNUMXth century, which assign the monument one of the first places in the history of Sicilian medieval painting. They include some figures of "Saints" and "Angels" of a Byzantine Anonymous of the century. XII .; a "Martirio di Sant'Andrea", a "Dormitio Virginis", a "Deposition from the Cross", a "Massacre of the Innocents" by a Southern Anonymous of the XNUMXth century. XII-XIII, connected in some way to the so-called "Benedictine" painting; of a "Crucifixion" of the thirteenth century; of a "Madonna and Child" of the fourteenth century. of a "Mass of San Gregorio" and a "Resurrection" of the fifteenth century.
The most recent fresco, depicting «Sant'Antonio Abate» in the chair, is dated 1486 and is located in the northern arm of the transept.
In the third altar on the right there is also a canvas ("Deposition"), attributed to Pietro Novelli (1640).

Source: Municipality of Piazza Armerina

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