Chiesa dell'Immacolata Concezione - Palermo

The church stands in the heart of the historic Capo Market. In the past it was part of the Benedictine monastery of the same name, built in 1576 on behalf of the noblewoman Laura Imbarbara, a childless widow whose sarcophagus is still kept in the church. In 1575 the city was struck by a plague epidemic and the people invoked the Virgin.

The monastery expanded in the following centuries to the northern edge of the city walls. After the confiscation of church property in 1866, it was converted into a hospital. In 1932, the monastery was demolished together with a large adjacent area for the construction of the Palace of Justice.

The church itself was built in 1612 according to a design by Orazio Nobili. It has an outer facade of two orders, strictly classified according to the canons of the early Roman Baroque.

The interior has a single nave, richly decorated with mixed marble and gilded stucco . The barrel vault is decorated with gilded stuccowork and Olivio Sozzi's fresco of the Triumph of the Religious Orders.

On the side walls there are short chapels decorated with turned columns inlaid with blue stone. The altars feature frontals with detailed architecture, a sign of the highest virtuosity of Sicilian decorative craftsmanship.

The whole thing is so opulent that it leaves all visitors with their mouths open.

Willem Vandenameele