Church of Santi Cosma e Damiano in Alcamo
The Church of Santi Cosma e Damiano is a sacred building in the Baroque style of Alcamo.
It was built around 1500 but took on its current appearance with the reconstruction of 1721-1725 based on a project by architect Giuseppe Mariani. In 1545 the monastery of Santa Chiara was annexed, adjacent to the Church, and today the Poor Clares who live there take care of the Church and with their songs of rare melodic beauty and their prayers manifest their presence on the territory.
Di notable value is the interesting solution of the hexagonal drum which internally repeats the profile of the hall and is probably inspired by the Roman church of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza in Rome, by the famous architect Francesco Borromini whose works Mariani knew .
The interior is embellished with splendid stuccos by Francesco Guastalla and Vincenzo Perez from 1722, from the Serpotta school.
The works kept inside are of considerable value: the two large canvases depicting the Immaculate Conception and the Madonna presenting the Child to Santa Chiara by the Flemish painter Guglielmo Borremans; "The Madonna of the Rosary" of 1658 and "the Madonna of the Angels" of 1669 by the painter Andrea Carrera; a seventeenth-century wooden crucifix; two magnificent and valuable allegorical statues depicting Justice and Charity from 1722 by Giacomo Serpotta; the altarpiece depicting the Immaculate Virgin, dating back to 1722, by Gugliemo Borremans; statuettes in wood and alabaster from the 1700s and works in wax and plastic enamel.
