Oratorio di San Lorenzo, Palermo (Giacomo Serpotta)
The martyrdom of St. Lawrence (San Lorenzo). Note the interesting figures to the right: A man pointing, trying to make the child see what is happening.
The interior of Oratorio di San Lorenzo in Palermo was designed by Giacomo Amato and decorated (1699-1707) with stuccoes by Giacomo Serpotta illustrating the lives of St Lawrence and St Francis.
Curious boy watching the mini theatre.
Another curious putto watching what is happening.
As noted by Nicolas Cordon (The Liveliness of Stucco: Vanishing Statues and Creamy Clouds in Baroque Palermo), “a peculiar aspect of Serpotta’s stuccoes in San Lorenzo is that, in many instances, no clear distinction is perceived between the coating of the wall – made from a similar plaster – and the body of the putti, be- tween the architectural frame and the decorative invention. Figures are literally coming out of the omnipresent coating, whose luminous whiteness seems to open towards an indefnite space.”
Stucco by Giacomo Serpotta in the Oratorio di San Lorenzo, Palermo.
"Charitas"
The martyrdom of Saint Lawrence to the right.
Misericordia and Charitas.
The Serpotta Oratories in Palermo
Oratorio of Santa Cita (1668–1718)
Oratorio of San Lorenzo (1690/98–1706)
Oratorio di San Domenico (1710–17)
Oratorio di Santa Caterina D’Alessandria
Oratorio di San Mercurio (1677–82)
The Serpotta workshop’s art is analyzed by Donald Garstang in Giacomo Serpotta and the Stuccatori of Palermo 1560–1790.
Saint Lawrence (AD 225–258)
Saint Lawrence (AD 225–258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians, ordered by the Roman Emperor Valerian in 258.
Where to Find the Most Important Serpotta Oratorios in Palermo
Lorenzo in other languages
Lawrence (English)
Laurent (de Rome) (French)
Laurentius (Latin, German, Danish)
Lars (Swedish)
Laurentius (av Roma) or Lavrans (Norwegian)
Lorenzo (Spanish)
Sources
Donald Garstang: Giacomo Serpotta and the Stuccatori of Palermo 1560-1790
Nicolas Cordon: (2021). The liveliness of stucco: Vanishing statues and creamy clouds in Baroque Palermo. In F. Borgo & R. Venturi (Eds.), Matter and Materiality: From Removal to Re-enactment (Vol. 2, pp. 64–69). Bononia University Press. Retrieved August 21, 2025, from Academia.edu
