The Bellomo Palace is a 13th-century Norman palace converted in the 15th century into a Catalan-Gothic mansion, now housing the Regional Gallery with a collection of medieval and early modern Sicilian art. The building itself — with its external staircase, Gothic windows, and courtyard — is more interesting than many of its contents, but the collection includes Antonello da Messina's "Annunciation" and Caravaggio's "Burial of Saint Lucy," painted in Syracuse in 1608-09.
The Caravaggio was commissioned for the church of Santa Lucia alla Badìa during the painter's brief stay in Syracuse while fleeing a death sentence in Malta. It shows the saint's body surrounded by gravediggers in a dark, almost brutal composition that breaks decisively with the decorative traditions of the period. A must-see for anyone interested in Baroque painting.