Museum of the Pilgrim’s House

Adjoining the Sanctuary is the former “House of the Pilgrim and Franciscan convent”, with sixteenth-century architectural elements and, inside, a staircase of 1601.

Now used as the Sanctuary Museum, it keeps works tied to the cult of the Madonna of Custonaci, including a tempera on wood of 1541, from the workshop of Antonello Crescenzio, and a wooden aedicule with the Madonna enthroned with Child, by a sixteenth-century Sicilian carver, both depicting the “Madonna of Custonaci”.

Among the sculptures and paintings, particular attention is deserved by the elegant and sturdy decorated wooden chest used for the “transports” to and from Erice of the precious painting of the Madonna of Custonaci; designed by the priest Carlo Peraino, the chest was made by the cabinetmaker Giuseppe Loretta (1831).