Sicily's largest church is the monumentally ugly Chiesa di San Nicolò all'Arena. The church was commissioned in 1687 but building was interrupted by the earthquake of 1693 and then by problems with its size – it measures 105m long, 48m wide and 62m high – and it was never actually finished.
Much more impressive than the church is the adjoining Monastero di San Nicolò all'Arena , Europe's second-largest monastery. Built in 1703 and now part of the city university, it boasts a grand internal cloister and one of Sicily's most important libraries. You can't actually enter the cloisters but you see them from the surrounding corridors.
