oratorio di san lorenzo

The whole room is an exercise in sculpting virtuosity.Putti are everywhere and the religious purpose of the whole exercise is unclear.Worth the effort of finding the place

This littke place, with a €3 entry fee, delights with its stucco cherubs in joyful play. To be admired also are the statues if the virtues. Very cheerful, endearing and nice for children to see the little cherubs being cheeky. Sweet and fun.

It was interesting to see, but we were surprised that you couldn't take photos especially as we had just been into Santa Cita church where you could take them (and the interior was similar but bigger and better).

Incredible stuccos. This church is famous for what is not in it. A Carravaggio Nativity was stolen in 1969, it now has a facsimile. It was thought to have been stolen by the Mafia, but no one knows.

It is another beautifull oratorio in stucco but people have stolen statues and the original painting of Caravaggio... But the statue of Carità looks so real............

I had seen a BBC programme about the Oratorio San Lorenzo and was not disappointed .The sculptures of Serpotta are really nice and the guide was really well informed .It is certainly worth visiting and the guided tour is included in the ticket.Nearby there is the antica foccaceria San Francesco so do not forget to pop in for a bite to eat after the visit

These oratories in Palermo need all the help they can get. There are so many, many churches, all needing maintenance and all containing real treasures of architecture, plasterwork, fancy marble flooring and the like. This is a small gem and definitely worth a visit.

My wife and I had the chance to visit the Oratorio and get a full free "private lesson" on Serpotta sculpure onsite by a very generous lady who works at the site. She called our attention to numerous details in the room which we were able to recognize while visiting other oratoria by Serpotta in Palermo. Serpotta´s putti (angels) are a special! If you plan on visiting all three oratoria (Santa Cita and San Domenico being the other two), we suggest to start with San Lorenzo which has some damaged figures and build on to the other two, which are better preserved.

Next to chiesa San Francesco d'Assisi (close to Antica Foccaceria for simply great food) and worth looking for.The intricacy and detail of the individual biblical allegories is difficult to verbalise, please go and see.

Perhaps slightly off the beaten track, but seems to be included in guide books. This is one of 3 oratorio with stucco sculpture by the master, Giacomo Serpotta (the others are San Domenico and Santa Zita to the north a few hundred metres - from reviews, Santa Zita sounds a good bet too). We saw it on a TV programme about Sicily, otherwise would never have bothered. It seems that others didn't bother as the 4 of us were the only ones in there for the 45 minutes or so that we stayed. Can't remember the exact cost, but only a few EurosIt's a shame that some of it is damaged and that the Caravaggio was stolen and replaced by a rather poor digital copy. It's also a pity that you can't take photos (a young lady from the ticket office stayed with us the whole time) and that there are relatively few good postcards. All the same, the place was stunning - how can you spend so long in such a small place? Well, you look at it for a bit, and then look some more, and then start to find interesting stuff... and then you find more interesting stuff: the putti (not sure of correct translation, but I'd say naughty cherubs) and what they're doing, actions and expressions on faces, and so on. The young lady was a great source of information too once we got talking to her and we kept seeing more and more.If we return to Palermo we'll come back here and try one of the other oratorios ('oritoria'?) too.

Serpotta's cherubs are amazing - full of character and humour. As a previous reviewer comments, the substitute for Caravaggio's work is a bit of a let-down, but does let you get some sense of how impressive the original was before it's theft. As with the other churches in the city the marble work and stucco is intricate and beautifully carved. Get yourself down the street off of Pzz. Marina and have a gander, you won't be disappointed.

This little chapel tucked away in a side street near the Piazza Marina is a real gem, containing marvellously intricate plasterwork, inlaid stonework and carving. Sadly, some of the figures from the smaller tableaux were stolen some years ago, as was the Caravaggio altarpiece, now substituted by a rather sad digital reproduction. Still well worth a visit though, and one of the few places you will find open if you attempt to go sightseeing on a Monday!

My husband and I were delighted to see the white stuccoed three dimentional scultpures in this Oratorio. The cherub sculptures were humourous. Giacomo Serpotta was a fantastic sculptor. We were the only visitors at the time. It seems most tourists don't know about this place but it is well worth it to see it.

Sculptor Giacomo Serpotta at his best, with all those sculptures so expressive, they're almost alive. Worth a visit.

Without any doubt the most beautiful of the 3 ! If you are lacking time I would advise only visiting this one. Although considerably damaged due to years of neglect it is still breathtakingly beautiful. Sadly the painting by Carravagio was robbed in the 60 and still has not been recovered.