Albergo delle povere

Albergo delle povere stands in Palermo along the former road to Monreale, as a vast building shaped by social care and architectural change. Its late-Baroque façade carries Neoclassical lines, while the central church of Santa Maria della Purificazione has a rectangular plan and restrained decoration.

Founded in 1733 under Charles III of Bourbon, the institution began construction in 1746 from a design by Orazio Furetto. Venanzio Marvuglia and Nicolò di Puglia completed it in 1772, after financial difficulties and the discovery of ancient Punic tombs. Sheltered poor people, disabled residents, young women, and orphans, while silk and pasta workshops, a bakery, and a mill provided work. By the late nineteenth century, women remained there, weaving linen and silk for clothing and curtains.

Bombing in 1943 damaged the complex, which later returned to social care and cultural use. Sisters of Charity still assist elderly poor women in part of the building, while other rooms host exhibitions and official events. The church also held the funeral mass for Italian-American lieutenant Joe Petrosino in 1909.