Shrine of Mary Most Holy “Stairway of Paradise”

Near Noto, a destination related to religious tourism that should not be overlooked, is the Sanctuary Maria SS. “Scala del Paradiso.” This, together with the adjoining convent, stands, in an eminent position, on a hillock suggestively panoramic Nestled in the Iblei forests leading to ancient Noto, on the road to Palazzolo Acreide and accessed by two monumental stairways.

The complex is striking because of its appearance as an integral part of the natural rocky environment that surrounds it. At the bottom of the knoll you descend to a quarry where you will find a natural fountain from which fresh, uncontaminated water flows. The shrine holds a stone fresco on the high altar depicting the Madonna in an upright position, her head surrounded on either side by groups of little angels, holding the Child Jesus in her arms, and in the landscape to her right is a staircase.

This rock fresco, the work of unknown people, was found on August 3, 1498 in a rocky wall limestone of the so-called “Passo del bove,” along the road from Noto to Avola; a chapel was built around this icon, which, however, was later destroyed by the 1693 earthquake, while the painting remained intact. This, in 1712, was cut away from the original rock to be transferred to a church built together with the ‘adjoining convent, by the Venerable Fra’ Girolamo Terzo. It is handed down that during the translation of the painting, a young man from Palazzolo Acreide, who was “born without motion or vigor in all the joints of the body,” was miraculously healed. From that event on, the church became a shrine named after Our Lady Stairway of Paradise, with reference to the famous vision of Jacob referred to in the Genesis passage ( Gen. 28:12).

The shrine has a beautiful Baroque-style façade with an artistic balcony in its central part; standing out above the balcony are three stone statues, depicting the Madonna in the center and the prophets Elijah and Elisha on the sides. From the terrace adjacent to the Church, one can enjoy an extraordinary naturalistic panorama characterized by the surrounding hills covered with lush vegetation. Inside, the single-nave shrine has a ceramic floor and is embellished by a fine 18th-century choir with 24 stalls, the artistic work of Friar Camilleri as well as a remarkable Gothic arch that frames the baptismal font; the church preserves, in addition to the fresco of the Miraculous Madonna to whom it is dedicated, the 18th-century gilded wooden urn containing the mortal remains of St. Franzo Martire placed under the high altar, while on the left side of the church is buried the Venerable Fra’ Girolamo Terzo and on the right is his small cell. Today the spirituality of the shrine is animated by the Community of the Beatitudes, which, since 2012, at the behest of the bishop, has moved to this diocesan complex.

The shrine, founded by the Venerable Girolamo Terzo, and built in the early decades of the 1700s, rises on monumental stairways that has a Baroque-style elevation, embellished by an artistic balcony on which three stone statues depicting Our Lady of the Stairs and the prophets Elijah and Elisha, respectively, stand out.

The small, single-nave interior offers: the high altar with a stone fresco, probably from the late 17th century, depicting Our Lady of the Staircase; under the altar, in an artistic 18th-century gilded wooden urn, the body of St. Franzo Martyr;an artistic and valuable 24-stall choir made by Friar Camilleri, around the mid-18th century; a Gothic arch framing the baptismal font; and the small cell of the founder of the Convent Friar Girolamo Terzo. Note in the sacristy a splendid inlaid wooden cabinet and ceramic floor. (Hilly locality 13 km from Noto, a short distance from Noto Antica, an important historical-archaeological site).