Chiesa di Santa Maria di Loreto

The church of Santa Maria di Loreto is a church in Bivona, an Italian town in the province of Agrigento in Sicily. It dates back to the 15th century and is located between Via Piazza and Piazza Giovanni Cinà, in the central part of the town.

It was built in 1490 by the Dominicans, who also built the premises of their own convent, attached to the church. It is one of the largest churches in Bivona: it has, in fact, three naves, bordered by five square-section pillars that supported four round arches, at which there were as many altars. The church takes light from as many as sixteen side windows and a circular one placed above the portal.

The building, in addition to having a sacristy and bell tower, had a great deal of sacred furnishings inside, almost all of which are now lost: there was an 18th-century organ, a wooden pulpit, numerous altars, paintings and statues, many of which were transferred to other churches in Bivona. Around the middle of the twentieth century, in fact, the church became completely uninhabitable, and it is still in very poor condition today.