This church, dedicated to St. Joseph, is located next to the Clock Tower and faces out onto Piazza IX Aprile. A double staircase, with a balustrade of Syracuse stone, leads up to the entrance.
The gable façade in the baroque style, has a large central portal that leads into the church, and two small side portals, of which the right places in the sacristy and the left one leads to a recreation room that is often used for exhibitions of painting.
The monumental main portal is made with marbles of Taormina from different varieties, jambs and architrave in white, grey and pink in the other decorative pieces.
On the right side of the church stands the great bell tower, the lower part of which is made from large blocks of Taormina stone.
The interior, decorated with stucco work of the eighteenth century reproducing floral motifs and heads of winged angels, has a single nave with a transept that has at its center a dome where you can admire a fresco depicting St. John Bosco child between Madonna and Jesus.
The main altar of the church is made with Taormina marble. Under the tabernacle there is inlaid the Madonna rises above the souls in Purgatory.
Behind the altar, in a niche of the apse there is the statue of Maria Ausiliatrice.
Above the main altar, on the right, there is in a niche the statue of St. John Bosco with two boys, while to the left there is a statue of St. Joseph.
Beside the altar of St. Joseph there is another niche which houses the wood and glass urn with the statue of the Dead Christ, which is carried in procession on Good Friday.
The pulpit is located at the base of the arch before the main altar. Next to the pulpit there is a small marble statue of Saint Dominic Savio, the saint of mothers and cradles, which holds a chart in the left hand with the words: “Death rather than sin – Domenico Savio 1857“, while in the right hand he is holding a crucifix on his chest.
In the sacristy of the church is remarkable a Taormina pink marble fountain placed in a niche surrounded by a round arch; at the top of the arc there is depicted the Virgin Mary with the souls in the flames of Purgatory at her feet, which is identical to that shown on the front of the main altar.
Filed under Faith Foundations, Heritage, Holidays, Taormina 2019
Church of San Giuseppi
12 Comments CherryPie on Jan 29th 2020
What a grand material Taormina marble is. Is the pink marble a naturally occurring colour?
I am not sure if the colour is natural. Information about Taormina and Sicily is not easily researched online. The translations are not perfect and neither is the translation in the guide books I bought during my stay.
Looks even more magnificent against those blue skies.
My Taormina experience was wonderful
What a stunning church – your photos are super.
Thank you
you are a good photojournalist Cherie… you chare so many journeys with us….peter:)
It makes me happy that you enjoy my photo journeys
Don’t you just love when you can go inside these churches, Cherry!
I love to see the inside of a church.
>a dome where you can admire a fresco depicting St. John Bosco child between Madonna and Jesus.
To the left of Mary, are those lions??
Lions and sheep (next to Jesus)?
Are they supposed to represent “evil and good”?
They are lions and sheep which I presume is the meant to symbolise good and evil.