Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, Alcamo
The Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta ("Our Lady's Assumption", also called mother church) is a 14th-century basilica in Alcamo, province of Trapani, Sicily, southern Italy. It is named after the Assumption. History. The first mother church of Alcamo, positioned on the north side of the quarter of San Vito, was first dedicated to Our Lady Source of Mercy ("Santa Maria Fonte della Misericordia", 1200) and then to Our Lady with the Star ("Madonna della Stella"). This Church is still existing under the name of Santa Maria della Stella, though in a state  of abandonment. In 1332 the inhabitants of quarter of San Vito moved near the castle of the Counts of Modica, and for this reason a new mother church was built in the same place where the present one is located and it is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption. This church opened to worship in 1402, was built in a Catalan-Gothic style with a nave and two side aisles and had a wooden ceiling and side chapels not aligned. It was enlarged and modified in 1471, 1530-1558 and 1581. Today we can only see the bell tower  with double lancet windows (restored in 1942), the chapel of the Holy Thorn and the Baptistery. About the 16th century it gave the name to one of the four districts in which Alcamo was divided, the so-called "Maggiore Chiesa". In 1602 in this Church they founded the company of Santa Maria dello Stellario (Our Lady of Stellario), formed by countrymen (""villani"") and butchers (""macellai""), transferred to church of Stellario in 1625. The church was rebuilt in 1669 by Archduke Joseph and Angelo Italia (an architect from the Society of Jesus), while the neo-classical façade was realized in 1786  by Emanuele Cardona. In 1918 in the mother church they founded the congregation of the Sacramentines, then the congregation of Ursulines (1919) and the Assuntines (1936). Until the first half of the 20th century, the dome was covered with majolica tiles, later replaced with copper plates. In 1954, year of Mary, on the first centenary of the introduction of the Immaculate Conception's dogma, a statue of the Madonna was placed on the bell tower. In May 1969 the Church of Our Lady's Assumption was elected as a basilica. The garden adjoining the church, since the 15th century, was  used as a cemetery for poor people, with an altar where to celebrate Mass during maladies and a stone cross with an aedicula sacred to Our Lady of Mercy. In the 20th century it became a public garden and in 1929 they placed the War Memorial, realized by Bentivegna, a sculptor from Sciacca. Description and works. The church has a basilican plan with a nave and two side aisles which are divided by two rows of columns with monolithic marble shafts extracted from the near mount Bonifato. The stuccoes were made by the Curtis, while the floor was realized on  the architect Giuseppe Patricolo's plan. The interior contains 38 frescos by Guglielmo Borremans; in particular the three frescoes on the vault, realized by Borremans in 1735, represent "Our Lady's Assumption with the Holy Trinity and the Saints Anne and Joachim, John the Baptist, David and the patriarchs, Cherubs, Angels and Archangels" (in the first space), "The Virgin's Coronation with the Eucharistic Word in her bosom, the Holy Trinity and Angels" (in the second space) and "Our Lady the Queen crowned and sitting among the clouds, holding a sceptre with Saint Peter on the right and Saint Paul  on the left and male and female saints who founded religious or monastic orders, with Saint Rosalia" (in the third space). Besides the frescoes, there are other works by Borremans and in particular: The Church has 5 chapels in the left nave, 6 in the right one and 6 in the area next to the apse. In the past the chapels belonged to some local families that had the duty of preserving and embellishing them. Besides, they were used by the proprietary families as their graves. They were all noblemen except for the Abbati family. On the right nave of  the church there are: Next to the apse there are: Instead in the left nave (starting from the chapel nearest to the altar) there are: In the sacristy there are some works ascribed to , such as the statue of Holy Mary's Aid and the portal lunette from the ex Church of Holy Mary's Aid. The 15th century portal of the bell tower is ascribed to Berrettaro, too. (1499).