The Church of San Giacomo Apostolo stands along the access road to the castle of Geraci Siculo. the building, very austere in its external stone facing, has a single nave with two deep side chapels; it can be traced back to the 15th century, although in 1984 heavy alterations altered its spatial configuration, with the removal of the vaulted ceilings and the covering of the walls with stone blocks.

Among the artistic works still in situ, at the entrance to the chapel of St James there is a fragment of a fresco from the second half of the 15th century depicting St Philip of Agira. The saint, known as the ‘spirit chaser’, whose cult was spread in Sicily by the ancient Basilian monasteries, is depicted in the act of blessing, wearing a pre-Tridentine red chasuble and pallium, and holding his iconographic attributes in his left hand, namely the ropes used to bind demons. The figure, almost in a frontal position, stands out against a background divided into green and black panels containing the inscription San Ph(ilipp)u d’Archir(ò) and bordered at the top by a band of geometric openwork.

The same chapel houses the wooden simulacrum of the church’s patron saint, whose style was clearly inspired by the marble statue contained in the altarpiece of the church of San Bartolomeo, also in Geraci. The sculpture, which has been repainted several times over the years, dates back to the mid-16th century.

Also worth mentioning is the large altarpiece above the main altar, depicting the Immaculate Conception with Saints Francis, James the Apostle, Clare and John the Evangelist at her feet. As can be deduced from the signature, it was painted in 1657 by the painter Giuseppe Tomasi da Tortorici.

The valuable wooden crucifix found near the castle and now also kept in the church belongs to the late Gothic culture. the work, attributed to a Sicilian-Valentine sculptor, dates back to the mid-15th century and shows an elongated figure, slightly bent to the left, with a loincloth with flowing pleats, from which the face stands out, revealing a serene expression, closer to humanistic sensibility.