San Sebastiano, Baroque basilica in Palazzolo Acreide, Italy

San Sebastiano is a Baroque basilica in Palazzolo Acreide featuring a monumental facade of pale stone adorned with paired pilasters and carved portals arranged in three tiers. The building sits on elevated ground and its spacious proportions and rich architectural detailing dominate the town's skyline.

A church dedicated to Saint Sebastian stood here from the 15th century, beside an older church of San Rocco built after 1414. The 1693 Val di Noto earthquake destroyed it and its archives. A new building with a nave and two aisles rose in the early 18th century; Mario Diamanti designed the facade from 1723, completed with the campanile in 1768. It became a parish in 1859 and a basilica in 1828.

The town is divided into districts each tied to a church, and rivalry between the devotees of San Sebastiano and San Paolo was intense enough to be studied by the anthropologist Giuseppe Pitrè. The church became a parish in 1859, and its titular statue, carved by an unknown artist in 1663, is kept inside.

The basilica is reached via a monumental staircase with two flights built in the 1870s. Climbing to the church gives visitors a sense of the square's elevation and allows viewing the facade from different angles as you approach.

The facade's central portal is flanked by a pair of white stone lions carved by Mario Diamanti, the Siracusan sculptor who designed the whole prospect. Above, an iron weather vane called u palieddu, shaped like a flag, tops the structure at 42 metres above the square. The mechanical clock installed in 1885 was later replaced by an electric one.