Madonna of Trapani is the common name for the Basilica-Sanctuary of Maria Santissima Annunziata, a Roman Catholic church, minor basilica, and former Carmelite convent in Trapani, Sicily. The sanctuary is dedicated to the Annunciation and preserves the marble statue known as the Madonna of Trapani, a medieval representation of the Virgin and Child.[1]
The sanctuary stands on the eastern edge of Trapani along the historic route to Erice. At the time of its foundation in the early fourteenth century it lay outside the medieval city walls, in an area that was later incorporated into the urban fabric. The church forms part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trapani.[1]
History
According to the 19th-century Trapani historian Giuseppe Maria di Ferro, the church of the Annunziata was completed in 1332, as attested by an inscription recorded by Father Daniele della Vergine Maria. Over time the building was enriched with additional works and decorative interventions.[2]
In the eighteenth century the Carmelite prior Vincenzo Ferreri entrusted the decoration of the interior to the architect Amico Ciantro, who designed Corinthian-order columns and pilasters without altering the original dimensions of the church. Di Ferro reports that errors in the execution of later works in 1760 caused structural problems in the vault, leaving several marble elements unused.[2]
The body of Saint Louis IX of France was deposited in the church on 20 November 1270 after his death at Tunis and remained there for fifteen days before being transferred to Monreale and subsequently to Paris.[2]
Architecture and furnishings
The basilica consists of a single nave terminating in the high altar. In the choir stands a bronze lectern composed of five elements, executed in 1582 by the Trapani sculptor Annibale Scudaniglio, who placed his own portrait and signature on the work. Di Ferro praised the refinement of its ornament, figures and expressive qualities.[2]
Two notable paintings flank the choir: a Martyrdom of Saint Andrew, attributed by Di Ferro to Cavalier Mattia, and a Christ Bearing the Cross by Andrea Carreca, inspired by the Michelangelo statue in Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome.[2]
The bell tower on the southern side of the church was designed and directed by the Trapani architect Simone Pisano.[2]
Di Ferro recorded the patronage of several noble families, including the Marchese Fardella and Don Emmanuele Fardella, Prince of Paceco. Other notable patrons were Don Marcello Pepoli e Carafa, the Prince of the Cattolica of the Bosco family, and the Viceroy Count of Albadalista.[2]
Statue of the Madonna
The sanctuary preserves a life-sized marble statue of the Virgin and Child known as the Madonna of Trapani. Di Ferro emphasised that the precise circumstances of the statue’s arrival in Trapani were already uncertain in his time, owing to the loss of archival sources and the contradictions among later writers. He cited the historian Pirri in noting that both the injury of time and the negligence of writers had obscured its early history.[2]
Di Ferro considered the most plausible tradition to place the statue’s arrival in Trapani in 1291 under the reign of James II of Aragon, following a route from Cyprus to Ptolemais in Phoenicia and from there to Sicily. He reported a tradition that the statue had originally belonged to a Templar commandery and was left in Trapani at the insistence of the local population.[2]
Cloisters and convent
The Carmelite convent adjoining the church is described by Di Ferro as an extensive and isolated complex, accessed by a monumental staircase and organised around spacious corridors and cloisters supported by Doric columns. The cloisters preserved numerous lapidary inscriptions recording royal visits and acts of devotion to the image of the Virgin.[2]
A second cloister on the northern side contained the cell traditionally associated with Saint Albert of Trapani, later converted into a small chapel. The convent was one of the three general convents of the Carmelite Order, whose prior therefore held voting rights in the general chapters of the order alongside those of Naples and Paris.[2]
Modern use
Following the suppression of religious orders in the nineteenth century, the convent buildings were gradually adapted for secular purposes. Today the former convent houses the Agostino Pepoli Regional Museum, a state museum preserving collections of sculpture, painting, decorative arts and archaeology from western Sicily.[3]
1234567891011Di Ferro, Giuseppe Maria (1825). Guida per gli stranieri in Trapani: con un saggio storico[A Guide for Foreigners to Trapani: With a Historical Essay] (in Italian). Trapani: Pietro Mannone e Solina. pp.283–289.
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