Chiesa del Carmine Maggiore

The story

The church of the Carmine Maggiore stands inside the Ballarò market and has been the quarter’s religious anchor since the 17th century, though the Carmelite convent is older.

The dome, clad in green and yellow majolica and carried on four telamons, is what orients you when you are lost among the stalls: you see it from a distance above the awnings.

Inside, the transept chapels keep stucco work from the workshop of Giuseppe and Giacomo Serpotta.

Why it is worth it

The switch is abrupt: outside the shouting of the sellers, fish and fruit, inside silence and muted colour. Look at the telamons under the dome from the street, then find the stucco groups with their putti in the chapels. It is the best way to see how church and market have lived side by side here for four hundred years.