Church of Sant'Isidoro

About

The Church of Sant’Isidoro (Italian: Chiesa di Sant’Isidoro or Chiesa di Sant'Isidoro Agricola) is a small Roman Catholic chapel in Erice, Sicily. Built in 1666 on the site traditionally identified as the birthplace of the Blessed Carmelite Luigi Rabatà, it was erected by a confraternity of local farmers and artisans dedicated to Saint Isidore the Farmer.

The chapel was constructed in 1666 by the local brotherhood of Sant’Isidoro, composed of farmers and craftsmen, on the site believed to be the birthplace of Blessed Luigi Rabatà. It originally consisted of a single small nave with one altar, and the walls were decorated with frescoes of Sant’Alberto dei Bianchi and Blessed Rabatà.

Closed to worship in the 1930s, the church fell into neglect and was largely forgotten. It was restored in 2010 and reopened as the “Chiesa di Sant’Isidoro e del Beato Luigi” under the initiative of Archpriest Pietro Messana.

The church is located next to the Chiesa Matrice (Mother Church), just inside the Porta Trapani entrance in the Elymian-Punic Walls of Erice.