Convent and Crypt of Capuchins in Savoca
The Convent of the Capuchins in Savoca was built between 1603 and 1614, by the father general Lorenzo da Brindisi and the provincial father Girolamo da Polizzi. The convent constituted a point of reference for the humanistic, scientific and legal training of the privileged few who in those years had the opportunity to study. The church annexed to the majestic building of the convent is dedicated to San Francesco d'Assisi and inside it contains various works of great artistic and historical value. The oldest work is the oil painting of the Madonna di Loreto, from the first half of the sixteenth century. The work, commissioned by the noble Savocese family of the Trimarchi, is attributed to Antonino Giuffré.
Attached to the convent is the Capuchin Crypt built at the beginning of the eighteenth century in the basement of the square in front of the church of the convent. The crypt contains 37 mummified corpses belonging to patricians, lawyers, notaries, landowners, priests, monks, abbots, doctors, poets, magistrates, a noblewoman and three children, mostly belonging to the rich and powerful Savoco aristocracy. The bodies are dressed in elegant period clothes and show themselves in the niches and coffins in which they are enclosed.
