Church of St. Ursula, Palermo

On Via Macueda, next to the Palazzo Comitini, there is a Renaissance church with a magnificent facade decorated with Baroque stucco. The church belongs to the Brotherhood of St. Ursula, whose charter prescribes wearing black clothes, so the locals call it the "church of the blacks" (Chiesa di Sant'Orsola dei Negri). The black color corresponds to the main mission of the brotherhood - the free burial of the poor and the executed, and prayers for the repose of their souls. That is why you can see sculptures of human skeletons in the altar. The foundation of the church dates back to 1590, when a small chapel (oratory) was consecrated on the site of the current altar, the construction was completed in 1662. The project was designed by architect Giacomo Amato, who took the Roman churches of architect Francesco Borromini as a basis. At the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, the interior was decorated with white stucco by the renowned Sicilian master Giacomo Serpotta and his students Bartolomeo Sanseverino and Gaspare Firriolo. In 1756, the ceiling and walls were decorated with frescoes by Gaspare Serenari "The Glory of Saint Ursula", as well as "Faith and Mercy" from 1756. On the columns you can see ovals with images of the patronesses of Palermo: Saint Lucy, Saint Christina, Saint Agatha, Saint Nymph, Saint Olivia and Saint Rosalia, made in the workshop of Pietro Novelli. The chapel houses paintings by Zoppo di Ganga, Pietro Novelli, Antonio Manno, Giuseppe Patagna and other famous artists and craftsmen..

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