Description
The Church of San Domenico is, after the Cathedral, Palermo's second most important religious building, in the La Loggia district. Since 1853 it has been the pantheon of illustrious Sicilians: Giovanni Falcone and the author of The Leopard rest here, among others.
The Baroque façade, with two tall bell towers, twelve paired columns and stucco statues of popes and saints, opens onto the square of the same name. The statues are by Giacomo Serpotta and by Giovanni Maria Serpotta, his nephew.
Inside, three austere aisles in Billiemi stone, with eight columns on each side. Don't miss the tomb of Giovanni Falcone, moved here in 2015, and that of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, which arrived in 2024.
In the left transept is the Madonna of the Rosary by Vincenzo da Pavia, a panel from 1540 showing the handing over of the rosary to Saint Dominic, with the patrons kneeling. Among the monuments, the sculptures of Antonello Gagini stand out.
From the left aisle you pass into the cloister, with columns and arches dating back to the first buildings of the 1200s. On the walls run Dominican saints and scenes from the Apocalypse and the Last Judgment.
Also buried here are Francesco Crispi, the poet Giovanni Meli, the painter Pietro Novelli, the folklore scholar Giuseppe Pitrè and Michele Amari, who studied Arab Sicily.
The first Dominican friars arrived in Palermo in 1217, when Saint Dominic was still alive. The present building dates from the 1600s: it was rebuilt from 1640 by Andrea Cirrincione, and the façade came in 1726.
On March 25, 1848, in the midst of the Sicilian revolution, the new parliament of the Kingdom of Sicily was inaugurated right inside the church. Among the ministers of the first government was Francesco Crispi, future prime minister of unified Italy.
In 1992 the funerals of Falcone, his wife Francesca Morvillo and the officers of his escort were held here. In the square stands the column of the Immaculate Conception: every December 8 the firefighters lay a bouquet of flowers at the Virgin's feet.
The Baroque façade, with two tall bell towers, twelve paired columns and stucco statues of popes and saints, opens onto the square of the same name. The statues are by Giacomo Serpotta and by Giovanni Maria Serpotta, his nephew.
Inside, three austere aisles in Billiemi stone, with eight columns on each side. Don't miss the tomb of Giovanni Falcone, moved here in 2015, and that of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, which arrived in 2024.
In the left transept is the Madonna of the Rosary by Vincenzo da Pavia, a panel from 1540 showing the handing over of the rosary to Saint Dominic, with the patrons kneeling. Among the monuments, the sculptures of Antonello Gagini stand out.
From the left aisle you pass into the cloister, with columns and arches dating back to the first buildings of the 1200s. On the walls run Dominican saints and scenes from the Apocalypse and the Last Judgment.
Also buried here are Francesco Crispi, the poet Giovanni Meli, the painter Pietro Novelli, the folklore scholar Giuseppe Pitrè and Michele Amari, who studied Arab Sicily.
The first Dominican friars arrived in Palermo in 1217, when Saint Dominic was still alive. The present building dates from the 1600s: it was rebuilt from 1640 by Andrea Cirrincione, and the façade came in 1726.
On March 25, 1848, in the midst of the Sicilian revolution, the new parliament of the Kingdom of Sicily was inaugurated right inside the church. Among the ministers of the first government was Francesco Crispi, future prime minister of unified Italy.
In 1992 the funerals of Falcone, his wife Francesca Morvillo and the officers of his escort were held here. In the square stands the column of the Immaculate Conception: every December 8 the firefighters lay a bouquet of flowers at the Virgin's feet.