San Calogero, Minor basilica and shrine on Monte Kronio, Sciacca, Italy

San Calogero is a religious building begun in 1530 on Mount San Calogero above Sciacca, replacing an older small church that served the sick and pilgrims. The church was inaugurated in 1644 and holds on its main altar a statue of Saint Calogero commissioned in 1535 from Antonello Gagini of Palermo, delivered in 1538 by his son Giacomo without the archer figure in the contract. The saint wears a hermit's habit, holds the Bible and has the deer beside him.

A small church and a cave linked to the hermit San Calogero stood on the summit, where pilgrims came for the vapours. In the late 15th century a few monks set up a small hospital on the hill. Bishop Mariano Manno began the present basilica in 1530; work continued under prior Gregorio Gallitano (1571-1623) and it was inaugurated in 1644. In 1948 the sanctuary passed to the Third Order Regular Franciscans, became a parish in 1953 and a minor basilica in 1979.

The sanctuary is named after Saint Calogero, the hermit who, by tradition, rested in the cave beneath the church. A maiolica panel on a small altar shows him as an old man, with a wounded deer at his neck on his right and a kneeling archer praying on his left. The wooden case holding the altar statue dates from the 18th century.

The site sits on a hilltop and can be reached from the town center by climbing steps and pathways. Plan for about one hour if you want to visit and account for the climb.

The cave linked to Saint Calogero sits beneath the present church and was once entered through a hole about 1.5 metres wide, passable only by crawling. A maiolica on a small altar shows the elderly saint with a wounded deer at his right and a kneeling archer at his left.