A building of rare beauty. With its octagonal shape it is located in a position that places it at the top of the town, it represents a touch of Baroque art on the roof of San Fratello.
The church of the Crucifix of San Fratello looks like a Baroque church, with plaster casts inside and festoons decorated in gold. Outside it has three entrances, two of which are suppressed. The arched central one, now closed, faces west and was once supposed to be the main entrance, with an access stairway which was eliminated after the closure. The keystone of the arch, in white marble, consists of a bas-relief with an angel's head and is surmounted by sculptures, also in bas-relief, which depict a Pietà and symbols of Christ's passion (the three nails of the crucifixion; the column of the scourging superimposed on the cane that supports the sponge which was soaked in vinegar and offered to the dying Jesus on the cross; the ladder with which Christ was taken down from the cross is superimposed on the spear with which the soldier Marco Longinus struck the chest of the Crucifix and finally the crown of thorns).
The building is located in the famous village of the town and is octagonal in shape, typical of baptisteries, and in all probability originally this was its function in support of the nearby church of San Nicolò di Bari, now destroyed, already existing from the early sixteenth century.
The octagonal shape respects the symbolism of baptisteries: the number eight represents the "eighth day" of the week, or rather the "new day", that of eternity; but this number also indicates Pentecost and Baptism. However, we know little about the original destination of this church, we know instead of its current dedication to the Crucifix.
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The structure has three entrances, following the typicality of baptisteries and medieval symbology. The main door, now walled up, faces west in order to allow entry facing east, towards the rising sun which represents Christ. The door facing south, also walled up, bears a marble cross on the architrave and still has an access stairway. Popular legend has it that these two doors were continually blown down by the wind and the mothers used to tell the children of the 19th century in a lullaby that the solution was to leave only the one open "a la tramuntana". In fact, the only entrance door that today fulfills this function is the one facing north whose architrave is surmounted by a bas-relief depicting Veronica's linen with the image of Christ.
After the destruction, due to landslides, of the church of San Nicolò and most of the other churches of San Fratello, the Church of the Crucifix, which resisted natural events because it was built on a spur of rock, is to be considered a work important both for the town and for the entire Nebrodi area.
