Chiesa del Gesù, Alcamo

The Chiesa del Gesù ("Church of Jesus", also called church of the College of Jesuits) is a Catholic church located in Alcamo, in the province of Trapani, Sicily, southern Italy. It is the second largest church in Alcamo, after the basilica di Santa Maria Assunta.

The church's construction began in 1684, thanks to the savings made by the Jesuits who built it on a piece of land given by the Town Council; in exchange for it, they undertook to make several building improvements at their own expenses, in particular: The addition of six steps to Porta Stella, through which people entered the walled town; The fixing of the water piping which took the water of the spring outside the town walls to the fountain used as a drinking trough; they had to move it from piazza Ciullo and place it in the new site next to the main tower of the ditch (corresponding to the present via Mazzini). In this manner they diverted the way that animals crossed to water: it was necessary to do that because after the construction of the Church of Jesus their transit would have been obstructed. On 7 June 1725 Father Vincenzo Monteleone from Alcamo, who was the rector of the Jesuits' College, was appointed as the procurator for the building of this Church which in that period reached only the height of 8 palms on the western side, opposite the town walls. On 29 July 1764 they inaugurated the Church with a solemn ceremony; later they decorated it with stuccoes and in 1767 completed its construction, which lasted 80 years on the whole, so people called it "the Church of Patching". In 2014 they made some restoration works on the façade. In 1748 there was already existing the Congregation of the Maestranza of Rope Makers, probably taking part in the secret Congregation of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary; as their patron, they venerated Christ tied to a column, a wooden statue inside a small chapel which is located next to the secondary church entrance in via Mazzini.

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).