Built-in the twelfth century and later restored in 1600, the Church of the Madonna of the Rock takes its name from the peculiarity of being built and carved in the rock.

The church, which has many architectural elements in Taormina stone, stands on a small hill which offers a spectacular view.

The legend tells that the cave was used as a refuge for a shepherd and his flock during a storm; it is said that, in the glow of lightning, the young shepherd saw a woman with a baby in her arms but, frightened from what was happening, he fled abandoning the flock. Back in the cave with his parents, they saw, at the point where the shepherd had seen the lady, a crack in the rock where a painting representing the woman with the child could be seen.

Since then, the cave became a place of pilgrimage and every third Sunday of September the Madonna della Rocca (Madonna of the rocks) is celebrated.

Source | Photo © José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro