The new Monastery of San Michele Arcangelo, built around 1700 near the city, showed the grandeur still witnessed today by the ruins. The model of the original structure is kept in the historical archive. ''...The patrician class that governs the city together with the numerous and prestigious clergy tries to make the city regain its ancient title of bishopric, seeing in this possibility an opportunity for an economic revival and to regain power in the interior of Sicily. But the bishopric, disputed by Troina and Nicosia, will be assigned to the latter, probably determining the beginning of a long and slow decline of the religious bodies of the city.
The first signs of decline concern the Basilian order, the most powerful and historically most important for Troina. In this period the convent of San Michele Nuovo was built, (still majestic today although consisting of simple remains), closer to the town, located in a more comfortable place, with more sumptuous and spacious rooms compared to the modest and essential rooms of the other and oldest residence of the Basilian monks. This change is indicative of the loss of the ancient religious vigor that had characterized the presence of the religious order in Troina, which however still remains remarkable and incisive. ... '' edited by Prof. Silvestro Livolsi