About
The Church of Saint Mary of Pity, also known as Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pietà in Italian, is a Baroque church located in Palermo's historic center.
It was founded in 1495 by Francesco Abatellis, a captain in King Ferdinand II of Aragon's army, who left his estate to establish a Benedictine monastery. The monastery, housed in the Palazzo Abatellis, was established in 1526 and contrary to Abatellis' wishes, the nuns chose to follow the Dominican rule. The first nuns relocated here from the monastery of Santa Caterina. Construction on the church began in 1678 under the direction of Giacomo Amato, a Camillian cleric who also designed two neighboring churches on Via Torremuzza: Santa Teresa alla Kalsa and San Mattia ai Crociferi. The exterior of Santa Maria della Pietà was completed around 1699, with ongoing interior decoration. In 1723, the bishop of Patti Pietro Galletti consecrated the church; he was also the brother of Vincenza Maria Galletti, the abbess of the monastery at that time.
