Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita

The story

The oratory of the Compagnia del Rosario in Santa Cita, on Via Valverde, was decorated by Giacomo Serpotta between the late 17th century and the first decades of the 18th. It is considered his masterpiece: white stucco worked as if it were marble, with a technique that let him obtain polished surfaces and almost translucent figures.

On the entrance wall is the great relief of the Battle of Lepanto, held up by cherubs supporting a drape; along the walls, the “teatrini” with the Mysteries of the Rosary, allegories of the Virtues, and dozens of children who play, sleep and lean out of the frames.

On the altar, Carlo Maratta’s Madonna of the Rosary of 1695.

Why it is worth it

You enter a white room and everything seems to move: cherubs climbing, drapes swaying, an entire naval battle on one wall. Go closer and you see that it is stucco, not marble, and that the figures have expressions, gestures, tiny details. Then sit on a bench and let the light from the windows do the rest.