After the 1693 earthquake, St Peter’s Church was promptly restored and embellished, creating the three-nave structure that we can still admire today. The naves are divided by 12 columns, six on each side, the last two of which are encased in the walls supporting the pipe organ built in the early 20th century. The columns feature Corinthian-style capitals. The twelve columns represent a living image of the Church resting on the twelve apostles. A balcony runs around the perimeter of the church. The pulpit, recently restored with private funds, skilfully preserving the friezes and the original structure, was placed near the last column on the right side of the nave, near the high altar.

The vault was created by Giovanni Battista Ragazzi between 1760 and 1780 and is dominated by frescoes and decorations depicting Christian catechesis. In the centre of the ceiling are circular and octagonal frescoes. The first (the one closest to the exit) represents the sacrament of faith expressed with the cross and the Lamb. The second presents King David, sublime singer of God’s merciful love. The third depicts an angel with a heart, symbol of Charity. The fourth represents divine providence and is a symbol of the contemplative life: the entrance to Paradise, seen in Jacob’s dream, is represented by the ladder on which God’s angels ascend and descend. The fifth presents an angel with an anchor, an allegory of Hope. The sixth fresco presents Abraham (father of Faith) before the angel of the Lord stops his hand in the act of immolating his son Isaac. The seventh depicts the sacrament of the Eucharist expressed with the cross and the Eucharist.

The vault then shows, to the right and left of the frescoes, fourteen medallions: twelve represent Doctors of the Church and are divided into two groups separated by two medallions depicting Saint Rosalie and the Virgin and Martyr Saint Cyril in the central part.

Coming from the entrance, one recognises a first group of six doctors with clothing and iconographic features that are probably intended to distinguish some who were also venerated by the Orthodox Church (proclaimed saints in times before the schism). The absence of elements that distinguish these six doctors with certainty has so far prevented them from being identified with absolute certainty. In fact, specialists have limited themselves to listing the Doctors of the Church of the East: St John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople and Doctor of the Church since 1568, St Gregory Nazianzen, Bishop of Constantinople and Nazianzus, Doctor of the Church since 1568, St Basil the Great, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia and Metropolitan and Exarch of the entire region of Pontus, Doctor of the Church since 1568, St Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria in Egypt, Doctor of the Church since 1568. The possible identity of one of these figures, St Basil, is facilitated by the presence of a triangle, symbol of the Trinity: indeed, his treatise on the Holy Spirit, in which he affirmed the consubstantiality of the three triune persons, is famous.

In contrast, the classical iconography allows for an easier identification of the six Doctors of the Western Church. Proceeding from the right, we find the Dominican Saint Thomas Aquinas with the typical open book and the sun on his chest. This is followed by Saint Jerome, depicted during his stay in the desert, recognisable by the typical presence of an angel’s trumpet, translator of the Bible and Doctor of the Church since 1298. Finally, on the same side we find Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church since 1298. Still proceeding from the entrance, on the left side of the vault, we find in the first medallion St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, wearing the typical Franciscan tonsure and habit, Doctor of the Church since 1588. The second medallion depicts Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Roman theologian and Doctor of the Church since 1298, easily recognisable by the presence of the triangle in the medallion, an attribute of doctors who distinguished themselves in Trinitarian studies. The third and last medallion on the left-hand side depicts St. Gregory the Great, Doctor of the Church since 1298, also easily recognisable by the presence of both the dove, symbol of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the papal attributes (Gregory, a follower and biographer of St. Benedict, was the sixty-fourth Pope but the first monk to be elected Pope).

In essence, although it is not possible to give a certain identity to two of the six medallions of the Doctors of the East, the design of the commissioners to represent on the vault the new twelve apostles, i.e. the Doctors of the Church as a whole, giving equal importance, in an ecumenical spirit, to the Saints of the East as well as those of the West, is evident. The Doctors of the West represent the various souls of the Church then known: alongside the older Fathers (Ambrose and Jerome), the Augustinian soul (Augustine), the Franciscan soul (Bonaventure), the Benedictine soul (Gregory the Great) and the Dominican soul (Thomas) are represented.

As already mentioned, the two groups of doctors are interspersed in the central part of the church thanks to the inclusion of two saints: on the left side is the hermit Saint Rosalie of Palermo with her typical iconography: rose crown and crucifix. In the right-hand medallion we find St Cirilla virgin and martyr, whose devotion is proven by a feast and procession dedicated to her from the second half of the 17th century. The reliquaries of St. Cirilla and three other martyrs (Concordius, Eugenius and Donatus) have been on display in the museum created in the left aisle of the church since 2023.

The floor was made of white and coloured marble, as well as black Ragusa stone, in the second half of the 19th century by Giambattista Calì, together with his son Andrea. The design mirrors the decorations on the vault.

Curiosity

The ‘black stone of Ragusa’ is the so-called ‘pitch stone’. A limestone impregnated in small percentages with petroleum and bitumen oil, which gives it its typical black colour. Crushed, it was used in the foundations of houses as an insulator against humidity. Artistically, it was particularly used in the interiors of noble palaces and churches in the Val di Noto. It is particularly recommended to visit the city of Ragusa to admire real masterpieces made of ‘pitch stone’

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