The church of San Sebastiano in the Valley of Pagliara (Messina). Formerly the "Priorato di Santa Maria di Billimeni in Terra di Savoca" in the Byzantine Mediterranean

The church of Santa Maria of Polimena, today dedicated to San Sebastiano, is located on the left bank of the river Pagliara, in the Ionian Valley. Documentary sources on the building date back to the 16th century when it was one of the Basilian monasteries still active in the territory annexed to the Archimandritato of Santissimo Salvatore of Messina, but its foundation dates back to earlier times. The present research intends to deepen the study of the existing church build- ing, almost completely neglected by historiographic studies, through analysis of the monument and identification of documentary sources. The sources, in fact, acquire an important documentary value for this building since they testify to the existence of the building over a long period (16th–19th centuries). The investigation is based on a cross-referenced study of bibliographic sources and archival documentation and allows us to clarify the steps of a complex and articulated transformation of the building from its greatest splendour to its abandonment. The article is, first of all, structured on an analysis of the bibliographic and archival sources that document the presence of the settlement among the Basilian foundations in the Ionian Peloritan territory, where the presence of Byzantine settlements is notable. A comparison between the results of the sources and a survey of the state of the sites led to an assessment of the transformation of the building from its foundation to the complete definition of the structure, also considering what no longer exists. Evaluation of the state of the sites has led us to think about greater safeguarding for these settlements, considering that the church needed consolidation works, which began in the 1990s and have not yet been completed.