Also known as Casa Professa, this is one of Palermo's most breathtaking churches. The Jesuits first built a church on this site between 1564 and 1578. Incorporated into a larger church in 1633, the building was significantly restored after suffering major bomb damage in WWII. While the church's facade displays relative restraint typical of the late 16th century, its transept, apses and dome burst with 17th-century baroque extravagance. The dome's vault is decorated with a fresco attributed to Pietro Novelli.
More of Novelli's brilliance awaits in the second chapel on the right, home to his psychologically intense St Philip of Argiro and equally arresting St Paul the Hermit, both works executed in around 1635.
