The Oratorio di San Lorenzo, a small confraternity chapel on the edge of the Kalsa district, is the masterpiece of the Sicilian Baroque sculptor Giacomo Serpotta. Between 1699 and 1710 Serpotta covered the walls in white plaster figures — allegorical women, angels, swags of fruit, and animated scenes from the lives of Saints Lawrence and Francis — that look as fine as anything carved from marble in Rome.
The Caravaggio reproduction at the altar gives a sense of how the chapel originally read, with darkness and dramatic colour at the centre and Serpotta's brilliant white reliefs around it. Visit early in the day for the light from the high windows. Reduced admission with the combined Serpotta-oratorio ticket.