Santa Maria della Stella, Catholic shrine in Militello in Val di Catania, Italy

Santa Maria della Stella is a baroque parish church and Marian shrine on Via Porta della Terra in Militello in Val di Catania. Its three naves are divided by pillars, a structure chosen to resist earthquakes. The carved facade by Giuseppe Ferrara rises above a scenographic staircase, beside an unfinished bell tower begun in 1773 that stops after two storeys.

The church of Santa Maria della Stella replaced a predecessor of the same name ruined in the 1693 Val di Noto earthquake; the old parish moved temporarily to San Pietro, then to Sant'Antonio di Padova and Sant'Antonio Abate. The present building was erected from 1722 on the site of Sant'Antonio Abate and opened for worship in 1741, with a facade by Giuseppe Ferrara da Palazzolo Acreide. It was consecrated on 6 September 1925 by Bishop Giovanni Jacono of Caltanissetta and raised to a shrine by decree of Bishop Carmelo Canzonieri on 11 October 1969.

The Madonna della Stella is Militello's principal patroness; her gilded effigy was crowned by the Vatican Chapter on 8 September 1954, and in 1984 the city was formally entrusted to her. A chapel designed by Giuseppe Pagnano in the 1980s holds the image, its marble doors fitted with two bronze angels by Emilio Greco. On 8 September 2024 the mayor gave her the Keys of the City.

The church stands on Via Porta della Terra, at the top of a stepped approach, with the unfinished bell tower beside the facade. The interior is divided into three naves by pillars, with the della Robbia Nativity in the fourth bay on the right and the 1506 portal on the left. The shrine is an active parish, so visits should be timed around services.

The glazed terracotta Nativity by Andrea della Robbia was bought in June 1487 by Antonio Piero Barresi, lord of Militello, for the earlier church; the bill came to 101 florins, 31 of them for shipping from Livorno by the Strozzi company. Look for the angel scrolls reading "Nuntio vobis gaudium magnum" and "Gloria in excelsis Deo", and the traces of blackened gold that once covered the whole panel.