Overview
It was for this church and its convent that Raphael painted the canvas with the Fall of Jesus under the Cross, known as the "Spasimo di Sicilia" – now in the Prado Museum in Madrid. Erected in 1506, they were transformed in the 1800s into a shelter for beggars and later into a lazaretto (a quarantine station for maritime travellers), a granary and a hospital. The place is truly impressive. Thanks to a recent restoration, the church, with its spectacular open-air nave (the cross vault was not rebuilt in the 18th century), together with the adjoining hospital, is a cultural space open to the public that regularly hosts jazz music festivals in the summer.
