San Pancrazio Church, Taormina

In the northern part of the Piazza San Pancrazio there is a church with the same name, dedicated to the first bishop and patron saint of Taormina. Pancratius was born in Antioch in Syria at the beginning of the first century, visited Jerusalem with his father as a teenager and saw the living Jesus, after his Ascension he was baptized and became bishop of Nardo Gallipoli around 40, then was sent by Saint Peter to Sicily. In 98, he was martyred by pagans and subsequently canonized by the Catholic Church. The first church of San Pancrazio in Taormina was built in the Byzantine period, in the 6th-7th century.

..

..