Oratorio di San Lorenzo

The story

The oratory of the Compagnia di San Francesco in San Lorenzo, on Via Immacolatella in the Kalsa, was decorated by Giacomo Serpotta between 1699 and 1706 with stucco telling the lives of St Lawrence and St Francis: on the entrance wall the martyrdom of Lawrence on the gridiron, along the walls the teatrini and the allegories of the Virtues.

Over the altar hung the Nativity with St Lawrence and St Francis, painted by Caravaggio in 1609 during his time in Sicily. On the night of 17 to 18 October 1969 the canvas was cut from its frame and stolen; it has never been recovered and is among the most sought-after artworks in the world.

Since 2015 a high-definition reproduction has taken its place.

Why it is worth it

It is a small white room, and the richness of the stucco closes in around you: cherubs, drapery, figures that seem to step out of the wall. Then you look at the altar and know that what you see is a copy, and the empty frame of that day in 1969 becomes part of the story. Few places in Palermo carry such a precise melancholy.