Restoration of the historic marble of Santa Caterina in Palermo: the Baroque jewel returns to its former glory
The success of the restoration of the marble in the Church of Santa Caterina d'Alessandria in Palermo depends on an often underestimated factor: the availability of original marble. Cusenzamarmi played a central role by providing historic stones that are now extremely rare, such as antique yellow from Castronovo, antique jasper from Sicily, pontifical breccia, and French red. Without these materials, the restoration would not have been able to respect the original identity of the complex. The collaboration with Kermes restorers transformed a technical intervention into a true historical recovery.
The Miracle of Ancient Yellow: How CusenzaMarmi and Kermes saved the floor of Santa Caterina.
The Church of Saint Catherine of Alexandria in Palermo—one of the greatest treasures of Sicilian Baroque—has finally been restored to its former glory thanks to a new restoration of its extraordinary polychrome marble. After being closed for about a year to allow for the renovation and securing of the precious inlaid flooring, the monument reopened to the public in all its splendor on December 23, 2025. The restoration has given the city back one of its most beloved artistic sites, sparking enthusiasm among local history buffs and the faithful attached to this ancient monastic complex.
A restoration project to save a unique heritage site
The restoration project, financed with approximately €900,000 from the Ministry of Infrastructure, took place between early 2025 and late 2025 under the guidance of the specialized company Kermes S.r.l. of Ragusa. The main objective was to consolidate and restore the church's marble decorations, in particular the large polychrome inlaid floor, the marble choir at the entrance, and the wooden choir in the apse area. Over the centuries, the monumental flooring had deteriorated: the original binder that held the marble tiles to the support had undergone chemical alterations, losing adhesion and causing lifting and detachment. To remedy this, the restorers injected special mortars into the voids under the floor, re-adhered the unstable inlays, and thoroughly cleaned each slab, thus restoring cohesion and shine to the whole. Where some fragments were irreparably damaged or missing, they were replaced with compatible materials, chosen for their color and nature.
A restoration impossible without the original stones
In an era in which architectural restoration often compromises with substitute or synthetic materials for reasons of cost or depletion of historic quarries, the case of Santa Caterina stands out as a unique philological example. Thanks to the supply of original marbles such asGiallo Antico di CastronovoandRosso Castellammareby CusenzaMarmi, the restoration transcends aesthetic repair to become a true chromatic and material anastylosis.
The construction site was managed according to cutting-edge scientific criteria, with non-invasive diagnostics (thermography, ground-penetrating radar) to support conservation decisions. Despite the complexity of the work, the church was returned to the city on schedule, ready to be admired once again by citizens and tourists alike. The reopening was hailed as a historic event: the operation, poetically named "Il canto della pietra, il volto della Madre" (The song of the stone, the face of the Mother), culminated in a celebration that also featured a rediscovered masterpiece —the 17th-century Madonna del Rosario by Antoon Van Dyck, which returned to its original location after a long absence. A double triumph, therefore, for Palermo, as emphasized by the rector of the church, Monsignor Giuseppe Bucaro: "It is the recovery of an important piece of the city's history and devotion."
The polychrome marbles of Santa Caterina: rare materials in Sicily and around the world
One of the aspects that makes the Church of Santa Caterina so special is the rich variety of polychrome marble used in its decorations—from the floor to the altars, from the wall coverings to the statues. This kaleidoscope of semi-precious stones, typical of Palermo Baroque, includes some materials that are now extremely rare or even impossible to extract. During the restoration, it was therefore necessary to find authentic examples of these ancient marbles in order to replace the missing sections without altering the original color harmony. Below are some of the most prestigious varieties involved in the restoration:
CusenzaMarmi: guardian of ancient stones at the service of restoration
To source these extraordinary marbles, which are no longer commercially available, it was essential to collaborate with Cusenza Marmi, a Sicilian artisan company that has been operating for years in the field of restoration, among other things, providing support to restorers. Founded in 1970 in the Erice area (Trapani), a region with an ancient marble-working tradition, Cusenza Marmi is a family business specializingin the art of marble inlay, capable of working with techniques and materials from the Baroque tradition that have been almost forgotten. The artisans at Cusenza Marmi boast a deep knowledge of ancient marbles: not only are they able to carve and shape them following in the footsteps of the masters of the past, but they have also collected unique samples over time, saved from the disappearance of historic quarries in Sicily and elsewhere.
During the restoration of Santa Caterina, CusenzaMarmi made its precious reserve of rare stones available to the construction site. Blocks of antique yellow Castronovo, Sicilian jasper, pontifical breccia, and other varieties stored in the warehouse were cut ad hoc to replace missing or extremely degraded parts, ensuring perfect color and material compatibility with the original fragments from the 16th and 17th centuries. "We are the only company in the world that still has blocks of Castronovo yellow," explains master craftsman Gaspare proudly, "which we use mainly for restoration and inlay work." Similarly, only a few companies in the world can now supply original pontifical breccia: Cusenza Marmi is one of them, with a small stock dedicated exclusively to high-profile restoration work. This wealth of materials accumulated over years of passion has made all the difference: without it, the restoration could not have achieved its current level of authenticity. Kermes' restorers were able to work side by side with Cusenza's expert marble workers, selecting suitable pieces of stone together and integrating them perfectly into the church's flooring.
A New Paradigm for Sicilian Restoration
The restoration of the Church of Saint Catherine of Alexandria represents a turning point. It demonstrates that the restoration of Sicilian Baroque heritage cannot ignore material philology. The beauty of these churches lies not only in their architectural design, but also in the specific physical response of the materials to light and space. Replacing ancient marble with modern marble, or worse, with imitation marble, means betraying this essence.
The collaboration between theSuperintendency of Palermo,Kermes S.r.l., andCusenzaMarmihas created a virtuous model:
Absolute Respect for the Material:Guaranteed by CusenzaMarmi's unique stocks.
Restoration excellence:Guaranteed by Kermes' diagnostic techniques and manual expertise.
Public promotion:Guaranteed by the narrative of the construction site as a cultural event.
Without CusenzaMarmi, custodian of rare stones such asGiallo di CastronovoandNero Portoro, this restoration would have been incomplete, a faded copy of the original. Thanks to them, and to the expert hands of theKermes restorers, the floor of Santa Caterina has been restored to its former glory, not as a new surface, but as anauthentic one, giving Palermo and the world an intact vision of the Paradise on earth imagined by the Dominican fathers four centuries ago.
