Hermitage of San Nicolò Politi

About 2.5 km from the town, at the foot of the Rocca Calanna, stands the Sanctuary of the Hermitage of San Nicolò Politi, one of the most sacred places for the alcaresi. This building was built at the end of the Middle Ages incorporating the cave where the patron saint of Alcara lived from 1137 until his death on August 17, 1167. Externally the architecture, which allows the rocky parts of the cave to protrude, responds to vernacular tastes Alcaresi, including an adjoining portico, a former monastic housing area and a bell tower. The interior fascinates the visitor for the large rock protected by a railing that houses the Grotta del Santo where a seventeenth-century statue of his is placed. On the main altar of the Church the visitor's gaze is drawn to the canvas depicting the Collection of the body of San Nicolò, a work by Giuseppe Tomasi da Tortorici of 1649.