San Giovanni dei Lebbrosi

The story

San Giovanni dei Lebbrosi is considered the oldest Norman church in Palermo and one of the earliest in Sicily. Tradition dates it to 1071, when Robert Guiscard and Roger I were camped on the banks of the Oreto during the siege of the Arab city; the building was probably completed in the following decades.

In the 12th century, under William II, a leper hospital operated beside the church, which is where the name comes from. The three-aisled building, with its dome on a drum and three apses, already shows the Arab-Norman language you will find again at the Zisa and the Cuba.

The baroque additions were stripped away in a restoration in the 1930s, which returned the church to its original form. It stands in the Brancaccio district, outside the historic centre.

Why it is worth it

It is a bare stone church, without gold or mosaics, and for that very reason it makes you feel the Middle Ages more than others do. The garden of palms around it, the small dome and the light coming through narrow windows give a sense of stillness. Look at the apses from outside, with their blind arches, and remember that this is where the whole Norman story of the island began.