Chiesa di S. Cosmo e Damiano - Palermo

The Church of San Cosma e Damiano was built in 1576 on the land of Galeazzo Di Bernardo, as a vow to San Rocco, one of the patron saints who had freed Palermo from the terrible plague epidemic of 1575 .

The building passed to the College of Orphans in 1577 and in 1604 it was granted to the Brotherhood of SS. Cosmo and Damiano , who changed the title and transferred a fifteenth-century painting of the two saints (now in the Diocesan Museum).

In the second half of the 17th century, a Franciscan monastery was added to the church , with a colonnaded courtyard and an oratory (converted into residences in the 19th century).

The building has a simple facade with a Gaginesque portal, with an interior with three naves separated by columns.

The church was closed for worship in 1970 , the statues of the saints were transferred to the nearby Church of Sant'Ippolito, a silver frontal and some of the interior furniture were transferred to the Diocesan Museum of Palermo.

After 52 years , the church of Ss. reopens . Cosma e Damiano in Piazza Beati Paoli in the Capo district of Palermo again in 2022.

At the end of September , fishermen and sailors celebrate their patron saints, Cosimo and Damiano , who were once lavishly venerated in some villages of the city of Palermo. According to tradition, the saints, as brothers, perhaps twins and both physicians, were attributed the power to cure all kinds of ailments and ailments.

The church has a strong historical and symbolic value for the residents of the neighborhood, where the elderly still commemorate the great festival in honor of the two saints at the end of September (with the participation of large numbers of devotees) and the turrunari stalls where tasty delicacies are displayed , cookies made of honey dough depicting Cosma and Damiano or the pupiddi nanau (dolls of different sizes in the shape of a woman, with a dress that reached her feet, a cylindrical hat, hands on her hips).

Willem Vandenameele