Palermo - San Domenico

Piazza San Domenico in Palermo is named after the church of San Domenico, originally built in the 13th century but finally rebuilt in the Baroque style between 1636 and 1640. The massive twin-towered front was added in 1726; like the Column to Our Lady, it was designed by T. M. Napoli. The church is a spacious, triple-aisled basilica. The rich fittings include a marble pietà (depicting the Virgin Mary holding the dead body of Christ on her lap) by Domenico Gagini (c. 1460) and a large Rococo organ of 1781. It was in San Domenico that the parliament called by Ruggero Settimo (Roger VII) in 1848 sat, and subsequently the old Dominican church became a Sicilian pantheon, or burial-place for the illustrious dead; here will be found the graves of the politicians F. Crispi and R. Settimo, the poet G. Meli, the painter P. Novelli and the astronomer G. Piazzi, among others.