Chruch of St Nicola

Church of St Nicola and the Benedictine Monastery

Catania, Italy

We started out our day for the second time to attempt to pick up our Italian Permesso at the:

Questura Catania Ufficio Immigrazione 
Viale Africa, 25-27-29 
95129 (CATANIA - CT)

 This is the official document of residency in Italy and a must have for us!  We began this process in February! First item of business included long lines with lots of immigrants trying to accomplish the same thing.  We took the Scovilles along with us because Joel speaks fluent Italian and our success would be more likely if communication could be done in Italian.  No such luck, no permesso for us, yet!

So the next best thing would be to find something interesting to do in downtown Catania! The Church of St Nicola became the target.  It is the second largest church in Europe and largest on Sicily.  It was built after the earthquake in 1693 and never finished.  

The unfinished columns in the front of the church are evidence of the lack of funds to complete this church.

Inside the floors and paintings are beautiful but unlike most cathedrals in Italy there is no art work on the ceiling!

Beautiful pipe organ

The Mausoleum is located on both sides of the stained glass window.

The light in the top left is the hole in the roof that allows the light to come through at different angles all during the year.  It reflects on the floor to reveal the exact time and day of the year!

The circle light  from the ceiling fell on April 6th  at noon.

The entire year in one long line, the light circle in located on April 6!