Monuments of Palermo City

The Quattro Canti , or piazza Vigliena , is the name of an octagonal square at the intersection of the two main road axes of Palermo: the via Maqueda and the Cassaro, today calledCorso Vittorio Emanuele (ancient street of Phoenician origin, connecting the acropolis and the Norman Palace by the sea).
The current marble statues present at the Quattro Canti were carved between 1661 and 1663 by Carlo Aprile.
You can admire the four fountains with the statues of the Four Seasons .

Construction:

1609-1620

Style:

Baroque

The church is characterized by the multiplicity of styles that come together, as, over the centuries, it was enriched by various other artistic, architectural and cultural styles.

Construction:

1143

Style:

Byzantine-Baroque

Founded between 1154 and 1160, the building was subsequently entrusted to the Benedictine of Monreale , who kept it until 1787.
In 1882, the church was incorporated into a neoclassical structure and even transformed into a post office.
The church of San Cataldo is used very frequently as a testimonial of the monumental image of Palermo , in particular in the Norman age, for its peculiarity of present styles (eastern and western).
Since 3 July 2015 it has been part of the World Heritage Site (Unesco) within the Arab-Norman Itinerary of Palermo , Cefalù and Monreale .

Construction:

1154

Style:

Byzantine-Arab-Norman

The church of Santa Maria dell'Assunta is a cult building located in the historic center of Palermo.
The monumental aggregate comprising the church and monastery of the Discalced Carmelite Order rises along the street Maqueda
The monastery was founded by Giovanna de la Cerda, Duchess of Montalto.

Construction:

1626

Style:

Sicilian Baroque

The oratory, created with the aim of enhancing the intervention of the Madonna in the struggle between Christians and infidels, entrusts the decoration with the task of representing and promoting the institutional purposes to which, as a religious body, it is in charge.
entirely decorated by Giacomo Serpotta between 1686 and 1718.

Construction:

600'

Style:

Baroque

The construction of the church was a direct consequence of the economic importance reached at the end of the 16th century by the Genoese in the city, who had overtaken the Pisans in the banking sector of the Kingdom of Sicily.
Building a new religious building between the exit door of the city and the new pier of the port, meant strengthening the banking and mercantile supremacy between Sicily and Kingdom of Naples .

Construction:

1575-1596

Style:

Renaissance

The Jesus's Church also known as Casa Professa , is one of the most important baroque churches of Palermo and of the whole Sicily . The place where it was built was traditionally considered a refuge for hermits, in particular San Calogero would have lived there in a cave: there are still early Christian catacombs there.

Construction:

1590-1636

Style:

Baroque

Piazza Pretoria also called Square of Shame.
From the eighteenth century to 1860, the fountain was considered the representation of the corrupt municipality, and the Palermitans nicknamed the square, also for the nudity of the statues, Square of Shame.

Construction:

1573-1581

Style:

Baroque

During the 19th century the English presence in Palermo was very rich, in fact many entrepreneurs decided to move from England to Sicily by investing in it.
During this period the Anglican religion appeared in Palermo. The construction of the church came from the entrepreneur Joseph Whitaker and his cousin Benjamin Ingham Jr. who donated his own land located in front of the then Ingham palace (today Grand Hotel et des Palmes) but died in 1872, Whitaker took care of the construction of the building which began in 1872 and was inaugurated on December 19, 1875.
The project was drawn up by the architect Henry Christian, Joseph Whitaker's son-in-law.
The organ, built by the "T. W. Walker & Sons" firm of London, was shipped directly from London and was rebuilt in 2003 on the occasion of its centenary.
It is currently the only Anglican church in Palermo.

Construction:

1872-1875

Style:

Neogotico

The church is located in the heart of the historic Capo Market .
The construction of the church began in 1604, and was completed in 1612, however the actual completion of the building required more than 100 years of work and the remarkable figure of 80,000 gold shields. The works ended only in 1740.

Construction:

1604-1612

Style:

Baroque

The church stands next to a fourteenth-century monastery of Dominican nuns and was built between 1566 and 1596.
In the eighteenth century the dome was added. Inside, there is a rich marble decoration and eighteenth-century frescoes, which make it one of the richest churches in Palermo .

Construction:

1566-1596

Style:

Baroque

The church was built in the seventeenth century following a Baroque style which is found above all in the frescoes that decorate it, in the sculptural decorations and in the stuccos.
The left facade of the church is used for one of the Quattro Canti of piazza Vigliena , in particular that of the Albergheria district .
Inside there is a crypt with an aquifer, the crypt is not accessible, but the belief that its water is miraculous is widespread.

Construction:

1600

Style:

Baroque

The sanctuary of Santa Rosalia , built around the 17th century in honor of the patron saint of the city.
The sanctuary is located inside a rocky ravine, almost on top of the Monte Pellegrino ; inside there is a large quantity of water that is channeled outwards.
It houses the bones of Santa Rosalia , which according to tradition would have been found on the mountain by a hunter in 1624 while the plague scourged the city.
Always according to tradition, thanks to the discovery the plague was defeated and the Palermitan senate dedicated the sanctuary to her.

Construction:

1600

Style:

The Palatine Chapel is a basilica that is located within the architectural complex of Normans's Palace. The church is dedicated to Saint Peter the apostle. It was built starting from 1130 at the behest of King Roger II and was consecrated on April 28, 1140 as a private church of the royal family. The works were completed in 1143.
In the year 1458, King John II of Aragon commissioned restoration works to repair the roof. The restoration of the paintings would follow in 1482. Among the famous writers who visited and praised the wonders of the chapel, Guy de Maupassant was included with the quotes in the works "The wandering life" and "Sicily". During his visit to Palermo in 1885, he defined it:
«" The most beautiful church in the world, the most surprising religious jewel dreamed of by human thought."»
From 3 July 2015 it is part of the World Heritage Site (Unesco) within the "Arab-Norman Itinerary of Palermo, Cefalù and Monreale".

Construction:

1143

Style:

Norman-Byzantine

The church was built in 1344 but very little remains of the original style since, due to earthquakes, the church suffered serious damage and in 1678 was taken over by the architect Paolo Amato. The style is typical of the period: a lush baroque, with walls richly adorned with eighteenth-century stuccos, magnificent frescoes on the dome and vault and the precious marble altar, designed by Gaspare Serenario, with polychrome inlays and noble stones.
In 1919 the former monastery of Santa Chiara became a Salesian oratory, today engaged in dialogue between the different cultures that coexist in Palermo. In the oratory, and precisely in what was used as a theater room, during the renovation works some remains of Punic walls were found.

Construction:

1344

Style:

Baroque

It was built in the fourteenth century and after the first interventions of 1514, the church was totally restored in 1633.
The building, with a single nave, is embellished inside with frescoes on the walls. While inside the four chapels of the great nave you can admire the marble sculptures and inlays (one of which dedicated to Saint Lucia)
The bell tower, divided into three orders, was added in 1730.

Construction:

1633

Style:

Baroque

The construction work on the church began in 1633 on the initiative of the Miseremini brotherhood led by the Franciscan friar Leonardo Galici.
n the church there is a trap door which, according to legend, would be the passage for an underground used by the Beati Paoli .
Every year, in the period before Easter, the brotherhood of the church organizes one of the most prestigious city processions of Good Friday.

Construction:

1633-1664

Style:

Baroque

The church, commissioned by the cloistered Dominican nuns, is a true seventeenth-century masterpiece, the work of the architect Giacomo Amato.
Composed of two orders of completely free columns sandwiched with different statues, representing Dominican Saints or Blesseds.

Construction:

1678-1684

Style:

Baroque

It was originally built as a place of worship for the monastery of the Basilian nuns commissioned by Roberto il Guiscardo in 1072.
The current appearance of the building, however, differs considerably from the Norman one, since the forms, already altered in the sixteenth century, became fully baroque with the assignment of the task to the architect Paolo Amato (1682-1704), who adopted the model of a dodecagonal central plan with elliptical dome.

Construction:

1600

Style:

Baroque

The church of San Domenico is the second most important church in Palermo after the cathedral and is located in the square of the same name.
The church was built in 1458 and 1480 in Renaissance style, but the current configuration is more recent, it depends on the total reconstruction that the church had in 1640.
In 1853 the church became the pantheon of illustrious Sicilians who began to be buried inside.

Construction:

1458-1480

Style:

Baroque

In 1518 the imposing building, of great importance at that time for the entire Palermo community, was enriched, among others, with a priceless masterpiece, the Spasimo di Sicilia painted by Raffaello Sanzio , which depicts precisely Mary's dismay at the Christ who fell under the weight of the cross.
In 1661 the then viceroy of Palermo Don Ferdinando D'Ayala gave the painting of Raphael to Philip IV of Spain in exchange for benefits and favors.
The painting remained in Spain and today is preserved in the Prado Museum in Madrid .
In 1582 the church was used as a venue for public performances; subsequently a plague epidemic made it necessary to use it as a refuge for thesick.
After the epidemic ended, the rooms were used as barns and warehouses.
From 1855 to 1985, the structure was transformed into a hospice for the poor and a hospital.
In 1985, work began to recover the dilapidated structures.
July 25, 1995 marks the date of the reopening to the public as a suggestive open-air theater while since 1997 the premises of the former hospital have housed the offices of the The Brass Group Foundation, the Jazz Museum , the Popular School of Music and the European School of Jazz Orchestra .

Construction:

1509-1515

Style:

Late Gothic

The construction of the church was started in 1686 on a project by the Palermo architect Giacomo Amato. Inside the stuccos of particular value by Giuseppe Serpotta, made in the early eighteenth century

Construction:

1686-1700

Style:

Baroque

The oratory of San Lorenzo was built at the end of the sixteenth century.
For the oratory, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio painted the altarpiece depicting the Nativity with Saints Francesco and Lorenzo, who was stolen on the night between 18 and 19 October 1969.
In 1699 is the splendid stucco decoration by Giacomo Serpotta, with statues depicting the Virtues, and the eight reliefs on the walls that tell the stories of saints San Lorenzo and San Francesco. The stuccos show themselves in all the overflowing inventive richness of the Serpotta which, perhaps, has reached the highest point of his art in these creations.

Construction:

1590

Style:

Baroque

The church of San Giovanni degli Eremiti is a national monument.
Certainly, more than that of a Christian church, this building refers to the spatial conception of Islamic mosques and this reference to the East is even more emphasized by the bright red domes.
The church, whose origins date back to the 6th century, during the Arab domination was transformed into a mosque and then again consecrated to the ancient cult by Roger II.

Construction:

500-1136

Style:

Arab-Norman-Romanesque

Porta Nuova, adjacent to the Normans's Palace , has been for centuries the most important access to Palermo by land.
From it the Corso Vittorio Emanuele , or Cassaro , the main city artery, and, outside, the road to Monreale .
The Porta Nuova, originally built in 1583 by the viceroy Marcantonio Colonna to commemorate the victory of Charles V over the Turkish armies, underwent total destruction in 1667.
In 1669 the architect Gaspare Guercio completely rebuilt it and thought of crowning the building with a pyramidal covering covered with polychrome majolica tiles with the image of an eagle with spread wings. The prospect facing the city follows the classic patterns of the ancient triumphal arches, while the external one presents an original and bizarre architecture dominated by the spectacular presence of four telamons, depicting the Moors defeated by Charles V.

Construction:

1669

Style:

Baroque

The Normans's Palace , also called Royal Palace , is the seat of the Sicilian Regional Assembly . It is one of the most visited monuments on the island.
The palace is the oldest royal residence in Europe, home of the rulers of the Kingdom of Sicily and imperial seat with Frederick II and Corrado IV.
On the first floor stands the Palatine Chapel .
Since 3 July 2015 it has been part of the World Heritage Site (Unesco) in the context of the "Arab-Norman Itinerary of Palermo, Cefalù and Monreale".
The building rises above the first Punic settlements , whose traces are still visible in the basement.
The first building is attributed to the period of the Islamic domination of Sicily .
The Norman sovereigns enlarged and transformed the Arab building into a complex and multifunctional center that expressed all the power of the monarchy, thus creating a structure of buildings. The complex was connected directly to the cathedral via a covered street. In 1132 the Palatine Chapel was built under the reign of Roger II.
Subsequently, the Swabians maintained the government, administrative and chancellery activities in the palace, while the literary ones at Palazzo della Favara, which housed the Sicilian poetic school .
The palace returned to occupy a role important in the second half of the sixteenth century when the Spanish viceroys elected it as their residence, abandoning the Palazzo Chiaromonte (Steri) and made important renovations and fortifications. In 1637 the President of the Kingdom Luigi Moncada, Duke of Montalto, had the "Duke of Montalto room", an ancient ammunition depot, frescoed by artists such as Giuseppe Costantino, Pietro Novelli and Gerardo Astorino, transforming it into the summer audience hall of the Parliament. < br> In 1947, the Normans's Palace became the seat of the Sicilian Regional Assembly. From 1976 to 1981, transformation works were carried out on some floors of the building. After the 2002 earthquake which damaged some interiors, restorations were carried out on the frescoes in the Sala d'Ercole.
The Normans's Palace is also the seat of the Astronomical Observatory of Palermo, while the west wing, above the door Nuova is the seat of the Comiliter (Territorial military command of Sicily).

Construction:

1130

Style:

Arab-Norman

Started in the early 14th century, it was the great residence of Manfredi Chiaramonte, count of the immense and powerful fief of Modica .
From the beginning of the 15th century to 1517 it was the residence of the Spanish Viceroys, then seat of the Royal Customs Office and, from 1600 to 1782, it hosted the Inquisition court .
Today the building is home to the Rectorate of the University of Palermo .
During the current restoration, scholars have also identified a secret passage that led directly from the cells to the Inquisitor's room. Another significant discovery concerns the existence of an underground monumental building seven meters long with an imposing roof with cross vaults. The construction of this structure takes place in the first quarter of the fourteenth century and inside there have been recovered finds and graffiti even earlier than three centuries.
During the restoration of the facade, the furrows left by the heavy hanging cages where the heads of the barons who rebelled against King Charles V also came to light.
In the prisons, precious graffiti remains of the prisoners , unique testimony of the sufferings suffered.
A museum complex was born inside the complex. A choice also linked to recent surprises. In three of the cells on the ground floor, which housed the inmates, new completely unknown graffiti have indeed come to light: drawings of human figures and invocations of prisoners accused of witchcraft.
Among the graffiti, some of the very few testimonies of the Jewish presence on the island.
Inside the building there is also the famous painting by Renato Guttuso " la Vucciria ".

Construction:

1307

Style:

Norman-Gothic

The basilica of the Santissima Trinità del Cancelliere , commonly known as basilica La Magione , is one of the oldest churches in the city of Palermo.
Founded in 1191 by the chancellor of the Norman kingdom Matteo d'Aiello, it was the last of the churches built during the Norman dynasty of the Altavilla family.

Construction:

1191

Style:

Arab-Norman

XIII Victims Square has existed since the end of the nineteenth century, precisely from 1883: the year in which this monument was erected which commemorates thirteen people and which should act as a warning for everyone to have a fair trial.
Instead, the story of these men is cruel and unjust: imprisoned in the Castle at sea, they are killed with their faces covered in the spring of 1860.
Everything started on the occasion of the revolt of the Gancia. At the center of the operations was precisely the church of the Gancia in via Alloro where patriots antiborboni and Bourbon soldiers clashed, in addition to the victims there were prisoners, thirteen rioters were arrested.
A few days later the rumors of a new insurrection were more frequent and then the militia decided to appease the hearts of the people of Palermo with an execution that was defined as "exemplary".
To die for the homeland were: Michelangelo Barone, 30 years old, Gaetano Calandra, 34 years old, Sebastiano Camarrone, 30 years old years, Cono Cangeri, 34 years, Andrea Coffaro, 60 years, Domenico Cucinotta, 31 years, Nicolò Di Lorenzo, 32 years, Giovanni Riso, 58 years, Liborio Vallone, 44 years, Pietro Vassallo, 40 years and finally Francesco Ventimiglia, Michele Fanara and Giusepp and Teresi who are only 27, 22 and 28 years old. Their names are still engraved at the base of the obelisk.
In 1883, 23 years later, the obelisk we still see today is designed and built by the sculptures Salvatore Valenti.

Construction:

1883

Style:

The Botanical Garden of Palermo is a museum and educational-scientific institution of the Department of Botanical Sciences of the University of Palermo , which is based there.
The Garden is home to over 12,000 different species of plants.
Its origin dates back to 1779, the year in which the Academy of Royal Studies, establishing the chair of Botany and Materia medica, assigned it a modest plot of land to install a small botanical garden to be used for the cultivation of medicinal plants useful for teaching and to public health.
This first garden soon proved insufficient to the needs and in 1786 it was decided to transfer it to its current location, at the Piano di Sant'Erasmo, at the time sadly famous as the site of the bonfires of the Holy Inquisition .
In 1789 the construction of the main body of the buildings of the Garden began, consisting of a central building, the Gymnasium, and two lateral bodies, the Tepidarium and the Calidarium, designed in neoclassical style.
The new garden was inaugurated in 1795 and in 1798 it was enriched with the Aquarium, a large tank in which numerous species of aquatic plants thrive.
In 1823 the Serra Maria Carolina was completed. The large Ficus magnolioide, which is the symbol of the modern garden, was imported in 1845 from the Norfolk Islands (Australia). Following successive extensions, in 1892 the current extension was reached of 10 hectares.

Construction:

1779

Style:

Baroque

Utveggio Castle is an imposing Art Nouveau palace similar to a neo-Gothic castle, located on the promontory of Monte Pellegrino (an integral and characteristic part of the "most beautiful promontory in the world" as Goethe defined Monte Pellegrino in its famous Journey to Italy) at 346 m above sea level, overlooking the city of Palermo .
The building never had a military function, in fact the construction of the building began in 1928, was completed in 1933 and inaugurated the following year.
The project was by the architect Giovan Battista Santangelo, professor of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Palermo, who carried it out at the behest of the knight Michele Utveggio. The knight, who had purchased the land from the municipality of Palermo in 1927, financed the entire work, including the connecting road and the water supply system.
The building was then used as a luxury hotel, which was given the name of grand hotel Utveggio. The location was chosen to take advantage of the enviable view of the Gulf of Palermo and the entire city and, at the same time, to emulate the Villa Igiea hotel built nearby.
The construction company, owned by the same knight Utveggio, at the time was one of the most modern and best equipped in the region, so much so that he managed the difficult work in just 5 years.
Unfortunately, the business idea was not lucky despite the offer for the time was extremely competitive. After a few seasons in business, activity was already in sharp decline at the beginning of World War II.
In this period an attempt was made to open a casino there but without success. The war and the use of the area by the fascist troops.

Construction:

1928

Style:

Liberty

The Chinese Building, also called Casina Cinese, is an ancient royal residence of the Bourbons of Naples, located in Palermo on the edge of the Parco della Favorita , on the edge of the Monte Pellegrino Reserve .
It was built by Giuseppe Venanzio Marvuglia starting from 1799 on the commission of Ferdinando IV of Bourbon who had purchased a Chinese-style house from Baron Benedetto Lombardo, together with land bordering some rooms.
The apartments are distributed over three floors.
In the basement there is the ballroom and the audience room decorated by Giuseppe Velasquez.
You go up to the first floor with an external staircase, there you will find the reception hall in Chinese style with cloth panels also painted by Riolo, the dining room with the ingenious "mathematical table" by Marvuglia and the King's bedroom with the vault painted in Chinese style by Codardi and Velasquez.
Al on the second floor was the apartment of Queen Maria Carolina with two reception rooms and the bedroom with the dressing room.
On the top level there is a large octagonal terrace covered in a pagoda with a ceiling decorated by Silvestri. < br> In 1800 the garden was rearranged and Giuseppe Patricolo took care of the "Chinese temple". G. Durante made the "Italian flora", white marble tanks with natural Chinese caves.

Construction:

1799

Style:

Cinese

The cathedral of Santa Maria Nuova is the main Catholic place of worship of Monreale , in the city of Palermo , archiepiscopal seat of the archdiocese of the same name. < br> Built starting from 1174 at the behest of William II of Altavilla, king of Sicily from 1166 to 1189, it is famous for the rich Byzantine mosaics that decorate its interior.
In August 1926 Pope Pius XI elevated it to the dignity of a minor basilica.
Since 3 July 2015 it has been part of the World Heritage Site (UNESCO) within the Arab-Norman Itinerary of Palermo , Cefalù and Monreale .

Construction:

1174-1267

Style:

Arabic-Norman, Byzantine, Renaissance, Baroque

The Cathedral of Palermo carries with it a long history.
4th century
It starts from the period in which the Palermitans build the first cathedral, destroyed by vandals and of which nothing has come down to us.
VII Century
While it is the creation of a new large temple, of which we have received, probably the Crypt, with a square-shaped basilica plan.
9th century
Subsequently, the Saracens conquered Palermo and modified the seventeenth-century cathedral into a large mosque called "Gami".
1072
the Normans, taken Palermo, return the ancient Cathedral to Christian worship.
1185
The new cathedral, commissioned by Archbishop Gualtiero Offamilio, is consecrated to the Virgin Assumption. the year of construction of the Cathedral is uncertain.
Why a new Cathedral in Palermo? The Cathedral wanted by Gregory the Great was, most likely to be in a bad state and Palermo, capital of the kingdom, had to have a "Norman" Cathedral.
This Cathedral William II, called the "good", had decided to build it in Monreale. Gualtiero firmly opposed the King's will, but all his attempts to block the monreale construction were in vain, he made the decision to build a "new" "Norman" Cathedral in Palermo, demolishing the old one.
We do not know how much of the ancient temple has been reused in the new building.
The plan development of the new cathedral is influenced by the strong influences of religious and architectural sensitivities in Northern Europe and Byzantine.
From 1185 for about 900 years there were a succession of structural changes which ended in 2004 when the central altar and the ambo were made according to Vincenzo Gorgone's design.
It can be concluded that the Cathedral of Palermo was one of the architectural works with a history so articulated in the succession of changes, that today it turns out to be one of the most beautiful and evocative architectural heritages in the world, as its creations have followed in over 900 years.

Construction:

1185

Style:

Gothic-Baroque-Neoclassical