Old Jesuit school - Sciacca

This is the most impressive building in the city , the fourth largest of the Jesuit colleges in Sicily. It was built in 1613 by the Jesuits, at the expense of G. Perollo. He was the founder, as can be read in the epigraph above the door at the end of the corridor leading from the sacristy to the church, under an oil portrait of him.

After the abolition of the religious orders following the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, it passed to the state. It now houses the municipal offices.

The church has a late Renaissance shape and is the work of the Jesuit architect Natale Masuccio from Messina. It is built around two large atriums at different heights, the upper one, square, surrounded by columns surmounted by round arches and topped by a beautiful stone balustrade. The lower one, rectangular, by mighty pillars on which rest the arches that support the walls of the southern wing of the building. Inside this atrium, on the wall facing south, you will see at the top the sundial (Meridian) consisting of a needle that casts its shadow on the vertical plastered surface that serves as a dial.

Willem Vandenameele