The origin of the church, which arose outside the city walls, beyond the current appearance dating from the late eighteenth century, è to be ascribed to the full medieval age and the term ante quem for the dating canò be set in 1338, the year in which Count Francesco I Ventimiglia of Geraci was buried there, as reported in the writings of Michele Da Piazza and Tommaso Fazello and as reiterated in the mid-eighteenth century by Vito Amico: «in the southern wall observe a very narrow sepulchre with inscription, in which rest the remains of Count Francesco I».
Certainly, the church was originally smaller and was oriented in the opposite way: in fact, it was accessed from the pointed-arched archway placed at the base of the bell tower, now closed and used as a sacristy, according to a model referable to Norman architecture (think of the Martorana bell tower in Palermo) but also widespread in the Madonita area, as shown by the Madri churches of Gangi, Pollina and San Mauro Castelverde. A portico with arches supported by chamfered pillars occupied the eastern side of the church and turned on the side facing the village; its function as a shelter for men and livestock could be related to the fair held annually on the feast days of St. Bartholomew, the chapters of which were approved by Marquis Simone Ventimiglia in’the year 1551.
As documented by the Raziocini in 1769 the church was enlarged, knocking down the back wall and changing its orientation. Traces of this intervention remain in the vertical caesuras in the exterior wall texture, while the interior was covered with a new plastic decoration completed in 1794 by Francesco Lo Cascio and his sons Rocco and Clemente, the same masters from Motta d’Affermo who had worked in the Mother Church; analysis of the stuccoes reveals two different decorative repertoires corresponding to successive work phases: the chancel follows late Baroque styles, while the nave has simplified motifs of neoclassical ancestry, as seen in the barrel vault with geometric panels.
In the church is preserved a remarkable marble triptych that presents within an architectural frame, defined by pilasters with candelabra decoration, sculptures of the Madonna and Child between Saints Bartholomew and James (patron and protector of Geraci).
In the upper order è is placed the Pietà with the Our Lady of Sorrows between Mary of Cheofe and Mary of Magdala and on either side the Annunciation, with the figures of the Archangel Gabriel and Mary within roundels; the composition culminates with God the Father blessing, while in the predella are placed bas-reliefs of the Nativity (center), the martyrdom of St. Bartholomew, and episodes from the life of St. James under related statues. In the other panels at the pilasters, Saints Peter and Paul are depicted, and in those at the ends, the patrons at prayer; because of the heraldic emblems of the Ventimiglia and Moncada families inserted between the pilaster decoration, they should probably be identified with Marquis Simone I and his wife Isabella Moncada. The retablo è been referred to the workshop of master Antonello Gagini and those artists who gravitated around his son Antonino, most likely Fedele and Scipione Casella, and its dating circumscribed to the years 1536-1544.
The retablo è has been referred to the workshop of master Antonello Gagini and those artists who gravitated around his son Antonino, most likely Fedele and Scipione Casella, and its dating circumscribed to the years 1536-1544.
The two coupled columns in white marble, currently located in the entrance vestibule of the church, belong to the same cultural matrix as the triptych; they are united by a single base and leafy capitals, one of which contains the relief of St. Bartholomew within a roundel; it is possible to assume that they belonged to the portico attached to the building, so much so that during recent works another figured capital equal to the previous one was found.
Mention should still be made of the wooden statue of St. Bartholomew, kept within a niche in the southern wall; the sculpture combines the solemn, almost Greek philosopher-like setting derived from the model used by Antonello Gagini in the tribune of Palermo cathedral, with the Baroque sensibility given by the dynamic style and the “metallic” drapery of the mantle. The work has been attributed to the workshop of Li Volsi di Tusa, in particular to the workshop head Giuseppe, and it is possible to date it to the early decades of the 17th century; the scannello, which depicts scenes from the life of the saint, can also be attributed to the same author.
The work is also attributed to the workshop head Giuseppe.
In the same time frame, the church was granted to the Augustinians of the Congregation of Centorbi (today’s Centùripe), in fact as a deed of 1650 reports, their convent «was erected in the ’year 1627 by Fr; year 1627 by Father Friar Gilemo da Regalbuto…» at that date the religious community numbered four priests, one cleric and three laymen, who devoted themselves to cultivating the land and lived on alms.
The convent complex contained «nine cells, refectory, kitchen, cannava, storeroom, capitulo, stable, straw room, wine pantries, and communal places and a church eleven rods long and four rods wide» the latter are the measurements of the’ancient church layout, before the reforms of the late eighteenth century.