Considered the oldest Norman church in Palermo, founded beside a leper hospital in 1119.
Distance
Area
Brancaccio / Oreto
Visit
20 min
Entry
Free entry
The story
Tradition holds it was founded in 1071 by Robert Guiscard and Roger I during the siege of Palermo, and completed in 1119 with the adjoining leper hospital from which it takes its name. A compact limestone volume, a dome on a drum, apses with blind arches: it is one of the purest and least altered examples of early Norman architecture. The small palm garden around it heightens the building's North African feel.