The Treasure of Santa Maria della Stella is located in the Church of Santa Maria della Stella in Militello in Val di Catania, kept in a sacred chapel enclosed by three keys.
The statue of the Madonna and its processional fercolo, are safely placed here since 1755 at the behest of Prince Ercole Branciforti.
In addition to gold and liturgical silver and sacred vestments, the treasure preserves ten devotional bands, embellished with a total of 587 ex-voto jewels donated to the Madonna della Stella by the faithful and placed on the fercolo during the procession through the city, during the public holiday on 8 September.
The treasure also includes numerous sculptures and bas-reliefs from the 14th and 16th centuries, preserved in the sacristy, but also altar frontals, sculptures and paintings.
Among the sculptures there is the Portrait of Niccolò Speciale (1471), commissioned by the daughter of the Viceroy Eleonora to the great Dalmatian sculptor Francesco Laurana.
Among the paintings, we note a splendid altarpiece of San Pietro in Cattedra, from the beginning of the fifteenth century, attributed to the famous painter Antonello da Messina (1430ca.- 1479).
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