Oratorio di San Mercurio

The story

The oratory was built in the 16th century by the Compagnia di San Mercurio, a lay confraternity founded in 1572, in the courtyard leading to San Giovanni degli Eremiti, below the Palazzo dei Normanni. It is a small, single-nave hall like many of the confraternity oratories in Palermo.

In 1678 the decoration was entrusted to a very young Giacomo Serpotta, who produced here his first documented work: stucco putti and allegorical figures that foreshadow the style he later perfected in the oratories of Santa Cita and the Rosario in San Domenico.

The vault was frescoed and the furnishings completed in the 18th century. After long neglect the oratory was restored and reopened to visitors in the 2000s, thanks to the work of local associations.

Why it is worth it

This is where you understand how Serpotta began. The putti are still a little raw, less virtuosic than the ones you will see elsewhere, but already alive, legs dangling over the frames. The place is tiny and intimate, with no crowds, and gives you time to look at every figure up close. Outside, the courtyard with San Giovanni degli Eremiti and its red domes rounds off the visit.