Palermo half day tour, (4 hour)

Visit to the Cathedral of Palermo, a Norman Arab route, Unesco Heritage

The so-called four songs, located in Piazza Villena, represent the center of Baroque Palermo

Piazza Pretoria, also called piazza della Vergogna, is located on the edge of the Kalsa district, near the corner of the Cassaro with via Maqueda, a few meters from the Quattro Canti, the exact center of the historic city of Palermo.
Piazza Pretoria, also called piazza della Vergogna, is located on the edge of the Kalsa district, near the corner of the Cassaro with via Maqueda, a few meters from the Quattro Canti, the exact center of the historic city of Palermo.

The Capuchin convent in Palermo, in the Cuba district, is annexed to the church of Santa Maria della Pace. Church and convent date back to the 16th century, although built on previous structures. In the basement there are the famous Capuchin catacombs in Gothic style, so called but in reality a cemetery and not a catacomb, that is a place of worship and an early Christian meeting.
The Capuchin convent in Palermo, in the Cuba district, is annexed to the church of Santa Maria della Pace. Church and convent date back to the 16th century, although built on previous structures. In the basement there are the famous Capuchin catacombs in Gothic style, so called but in reality a cemetery and not a catacomb, that is a place of worship and an early Christian meeting.

The Church of the Gesù, better known as Casa Professa, built in 1564 by the Jesuit fathers, certainly represents the most significant example of Baroque art in Palermo. Despite having incorporated part of the previous structures, the new church was sumptuous in shape and the dome was completed in 1683.

The decoration was worked on from 1658 until the end of the 18th century. From 1703 a new phase of decoration of the ceilings and vaults began; the stuccoes were made by Procopio Serpotta, while the frescoes were the work of Antonio Grano. The façade, designed in the late 16th century, is placed on a staircase; niches have been placed on the openings that house the statues of the Virgin of the Grotto with Jesus, St. Ignatius and St. Francis.

More than 450 years after her death, the bones of Saint Rosalia, miraculously found inside the cave on Mount Pellegrino, freed Sicily from the plague in the Jubilee Year, under the Pontificate of Urban VIII.

The Sanctuary (445 m above sea level) is one with the cave
where, on July 15, 1624, the bones of Saint Rosalia were found.

Its structure, completed in 1629, is very particular:

in the first part there is the 17th century façade leaning against the rock;
entering we have a finely crafted vestibule;
immediately after, we have a dome "open" to the sky
and, finally, past a sumptuous iron gate, we enter the karst cave that we could define as the "heart" of the Sanctuary.
Since December 1946, the Sanctuary has been cared for by the Religious of the Opera Don Orione
(Small Work of Divine Providence)