80,000 volumes, stuffed birds, and a student who changed Italian politics

Hello visitors, I am the Diocesan Seminary of Acireale and my history has very ancient roots.

I am located in an area that was once peripheral and sparsely populated, on a rocky promontory from which the city can be observed.

Around the 1700s, I was the country house of the De Maria-Scudero family, surrounded by cultivated lands and warehouses, and in front of me stood a simple church from the 1600s dedicated to Saint Martin.

As time passed, I changed function and in 1861, thanks to the Dominican priest Father Tommaso Patanè, I became Collegio San Martino until 1878.

A few years later, with the establishment of the Diocese of Acireale, there was a need to create a place dedicated to the training of future priests. Father Francesco Grassi Mangani purchased me and adapted me to the new mission. With the inauguration on December 15, 1881, I officially began my history as a Diocesan Seminary.

Over the years, I have grown to become not only a place of religious formation but also an important center of culture and study.

Within me, I house several significant environments. On the ground floor is the Hall of Portraits, where the images of bishops, rectors, and some former students who have marked my history are preserved, including the priest Luigi Sturzo, the bishop Giambattista Arista, and the Blessed Gabriele Allegra.

There are also the study rooms where one can see minerals and stuffed birds, because here, not only theology was studied, but also natural sciences, chemistry, and other subjects, as I served both as a gymnasium and a high school; and the room with the Fund Sac. Prof. Giuseppe Cristaldi who, by will, left me his rich library.

On the first floor is the Ancient Fund of the Library, a precious space where I keep about 80,000 volumes including ancient books, manuscripts, and rare works donated over time.

On the second floor is the Hall, now a conference room, which was previously used as a study room or a place to organize important events in my life; it was here that the ceremony of my inauguration took place in the presence of the bishop of the diocese and many citizens. It is a simple environment enriched by the statue of Pope Leo XIII - author of the famous encyclical Rerum Novarum - and by four paintings by the Acese artist Pietro Paolo Vasta that depict scenes from the Holy Scriptures.

A short distance away is the Atrio della Cappella, rich in symbols of Christian art that prepare for the entrance into my Cappella, of an unusual red color that recalls the Sacred Heart of Jesus to which it is dedicated: a suggestive environment, decorated with paintings and symbols that tell the story of faith and history preserved within my walls.

I invite you, therefore, to discover my spaces and the many testimonies of art, culture, and spirituality that I have carried with me for centuries.

IC Gianni Rodari, Acireale