Church of San Cataldo

The Church of San Cataldo is dedicated to Saint Catald, a 7th-century Irish bishop who died while on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and was buried in Taranto. Tradition holds that, before the construction of the Chiesa Matrice, San Cataldo fulfilled many of the functions later assumed by Erice's principal church. Of Norman foundation and documented as early as 1339, the original building was constructed in the Gothic style with three naves. Between 1740 and 1786 it was almost entirely rebuilt, creating the spacious single-nave church seen today.

Restoration of the exterior walls revealed the remains of earlier apsidal structures, suggesting that the medieval church was originally aligned on a north–south axis. If this interpretation is correct, the present secondary doorway would once have served as the principal entrance, explaining why the episcopal insignia of Saint Catald are carved above that portal rather than the present façade. The interior was further enriched with stucco decoration between 1850 and 1852.

The parish complex also includes the Casa Santa di San Francesco di Sales, an oratory built between 1742 and 1762 for spiritual exercises and retreats. Together, the church and adjoining buildings illustrate the continuing importance of San Cataldo as one of Erice's historic parish churches and a centre of religious life within the medieval town.