Chiesa di Santa Maria all'Olivella - Palermo

The church was built in 1735 and added to the college of S. Maria all'Olivella. She is dedicated to Saint Joachim, father of the Virgin Mary.

The facade consists of one section, although divided by pilasters, and a curved tympanum under which a stucco medallion depicting Saint Joachim.

The interior is a large rectangular room with four semi-circular chapels opening onto it. The entire church is wrapped in a white blanket with elegant stuccowork forming streamers and faces of angels. In the vestibule there is a fine stucco relief with the "Flight into Egypt" ; two columns support the choir and introduce the nave: on the right wall are the Altar of the Rosary and the Altar of the Immaculate Conception with two eighteenth-century paintings attributed to Filippo Randazzo; on the left wall is the Chapel of the Archangel Raphael, with a painting from 1750 painted by Pietro Martorana.

Willem Vandenameele