Santa Maria della Pietà (Palermo)
The Santa Maria della Pietà is a Baroque church in Palermo .
Building history
Like its sister church Santa Teresa alla Kalsa , Santa Maria is located in the Kalsa district, the old Arab al Halisah, where the Emir had his seat of government in 937. From the 16th century the district became the preferred residential area for the nobility and wealthy citizens who had their palaces built here. The Dominican Sisters , who had lived in the nearby Palazzo Abatellis since 1526 and whose house church was the medieval church of San Nicolò alla Kalsa at Porta Felice, commissioned a new church. The building contract went to the Rome- trained architect Giacomo Amato , who inserted the new church into the monastic building complex of the Palazzo Abatellis between 1686 and 1706.
The facade contains twelve columns and niche figures of the Holy Dominicans and correspond to the Roman architecture of the late 17th century.
The old church of San Nicolò alla Kalsa was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1823 and a sculpture by Ignazio Marabitti was placed in its place . The name San Nicolò la Kalsa was adopted, it was not until 1986 that it was given the name Santa Maria della Pietà
Furnishing
In addition to the neoclassical main altar and a tabernacle made of lapis lazuli, the single-nave church interior contains numerous important works of art.
- Giacomo Serpotta : stucco decoration
- Antonio Grano : ceiling fresco “Triumph of the Dominican Order” (1708)
- Guglielmo Borremans : Fresco "The Legend of Saints Catherine and Domenic"
- Francesco Manno : Panel painting "Saint Dominicans" (1787)
- Olivio Sozzi panel "Four Church Fathers", "Mary hands over the rosary to Saint Dominic" and "Saint Dominic hands over religion the habit" (1741)
- Vincenzo Romano da Pavia : panel painting “Pieta”
- Pietro Aquila : Octagonal panel paintings “The Prodigal Son” and “Abraham and Melchizedech” (around 1770)
literature
- Silvestro L. Pozzebon (Ed.): Due Chiese Sorelle. Santa Maria della Pietà, Santa Teresa alla Kalsa. sn, Palermo 1993
Coordinates: 38 ° 7 ′ 0.5 ″ N , 13 ° 22 ′ 21.9 ″ E