Library in Taormina, 2005

The Church of St. Augustine, nowadays known as the town library, was built towards the end of the 15th century by the people of Taormina and is said to have been originally devoted to St. Sebastian who had worked a miracle and saved the city by keeping the plague away.

The Augustinian fathers later arrived in Taormina, took over and enlarged the church, turning it into a monastery; it then lost its St. Sebastian title and was named after St. Augustine. The church, with its tie-beam ceiling, has four niches on each side decorated with false Corinthian arches and columns. Originally decorated in late Sicilian Gothic style, the church was radically transformed around the year 1700 when the large ogival arch of the main portal was replaced by an architrave in Taormina stone.

All that remains of the originai facade is a small rosette and the top of the ogival arch of the old portal.

text from: www.gate2taormina.com/taormina_en.htm