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The medieval church

San Cataldo is traditionally considered a Norman foundation and is documented by 1339. The medieval building was very different from the church visible today, consisting of three naves and displaying the Gothic architectural forms that characterised a number of Erice's medieval churches.

Evidence of this earlier structure survives within the present building. During restoration of the exterior walls, apsidal remains were discovered embedded in the masonry. These suggest that the medieval church followed a north–south axis and therefore had a different orientation from the present church. In this reconstruction, what is now a secondary doorway may originally have served as the principal entrance. The episcopal insignia of the church's patron carved above this portal provide further evidence for its former importance.

The rebuilding of San Cataldo

The medieval church was extensively transformed between 1740 and 1786. The three-nave arrangement was replaced by the present single, spacious nave, substantially changing both the internal organisation and orientation of the building.

The interior continued to evolve after the 18th-century rebuilding. Between 1850 and 1852 it was enriched with stucco ornamentation, contributing to the appearance of the church today. The result is a building in which the surviving evidence of the medieval church coexists with the architectural and decorative interventions of later centuries.

Casa Santa di San Francesco di Sales

The adjoining Casa Santa di San Francesco di Sales was founded in 1742 by the Erice priest Giovanni Curatolo, who also established a Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. Officially the Oratorio del Santissimo Sacramento, the small building became closely associated with the spirituality of Saint Francis de Sales.

The Casa Santa was intended primarily for spiritual exercises and retreats, while charitable and devotional activities were also practised there. It was additionally used to receive distinguished visitors to Erice. Although adjoining San Cataldo, the oratory has its own entrance from Piazza San Cataldo and has historically remained closely connected with the administration of the parish.

Its exterior is deliberately restrained, contrasting sharply with the richly decorated interior. The rectangular hall contains Rococo stuccoes, frescoes and a carved wooden altar embellished with crystal elements and gilded arabesques, creating an intimate setting conceived for prayer and contemplation.

The fresco cycle

The walls and vault of the Casa Santa are covered by an extensive decorative scheme attributed to Domenico La Bruna and executed around 1760–62, when the oratory was brought to completion under the initiative of Giovanni Curatolo's nephews.

The cycle combines religious scenes with illusionistic architecture and Rococo ornament. Among the subjects identified are the Descent of the Holy Spirit and Saint Francis de Sales distributing Communion. The vault originally incorporated an illusionistic opening framed by fictive stucco, revealing a blue sky and the Dove of the Holy Spirit, while the narrative scenes on the walls were surrounded by arabesques and trompe-l'œil architectural decoration.

The paintings were already suffering considerable deterioration by the early 2000s, particularly on the vault, where parts of the original composition had become difficult to read. Vincenzo Scuderi associated La Bruna's illusionistic treatment with contemporary Palermitan decorative models, adapted by the painter for the much smaller and more intimate setting of the Erice oratory.

Domenico La Bruna

The Casa Santa frescoes belong to the final years of Domenico La Bruna (1699–1763), a priest and painter from Trapani whose career was closely connected with the churches and religious communities of western Sicily. Working in fresco, altarpieces and devotional painting, La Bruna received commissions throughout the Trapani area and elsewhere in Sicily, including Erice, Mazara del Vallo, Alcamo and Custonaci.

Erice formed an important part of his activity. In addition to the Casa Santa, La Bruna worked for the Carmelite convent of Santa Teresa; paintings associated with this commission, including the Education of the Virgin and Madonna della Pera, are now preserved in the Polo Museale “A. Cordici”.

Executed around 1760–62, shortly before La Bruna's death in Trapani in 1763, the Casa Santa cycle is therefore a late example of the work of a painter whose religious commissions can still be traced through churches and museum collections across western Sicily.

The Casa Santa in recent years

The close relationship between the Casa Santa and San Cataldo continued long after the oratory's original 18th-century function had declined. After being closed for many years, the building was restored and reopened in 2015 as part of the Diocese of Trapani's Erice – la Montagna del Signore programme for the conservation and promotion of the town's ecclesiastical heritage.

Since its restoration, the Casa Santa has also been opened to visitors on selected occasions, allowing its unusually complete decorative scheme to be seen alongside the adjoining parish church.