Church of the Holy Souls in Purgatory

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Explore the architecture of the Church of the Holy Souls in Purgatory, Giovanni Biagio Amico’s personal connection with the building and the history and craftsmanship of the Misteri that have become inseparable from its identity.

From Pietro Castro to Giovanni Biagio Amico

The church was founded in 1688 at the initiative of Don Domenico Viola and constructed to a design by Pietro Castro. Its appearance was substantially transformed in the early eighteenth century through the work of Giovanni Biagio Amico.

Between 1712 and 1714 Amico created the monumental façade that remains the building’s defining architectural feature. Its composition is articulated through a complex succession of projections and recesses, columns, niches and balustrades, producing the sense of movement characteristic of Baroque architecture.

Lina Novara places the façade within the development of Amico’s architecture in Trapani and relates its plastic treatment to the influence of Francesco Borromini and the Roman Baroque. The upper part is populated by twelve statues of the Apostles, executed in stuccoed stone by Alberto Orlando.

A local account published by Trapani Nostra similarly emphasises the harmonious succession of niches, statues, balustrades and columns, while drawing attention to the classical vocabulary underlying Amico’s composition.

Giovanni Biagio Amico and the church

The relationship between Giovanni Biagio Amico and the Purgatorio extended well beyond his work as its architect.

In his 1825 guide to Trapani, the Trapanese historian Giuseppe Maria Di Ferro records that Amico served the church for many years, eventually making it his heir and choosing to be buried there. Trapani Nostra likewise records his burial within the church.

Di Ferro describes Amico as one of the finest architects of his time and singles out the façade of the Purgatorio for praise. He also records Amico’s Architetto Pratico, the two-volume architectural treatise through which the Trapanese architect disseminated his knowledge of architectural design and construction.

The Purgatorio therefore occupies a distinctive position among Amico’s works in Trapani: it was not simply a building on which he worked, but a church with which he maintained a lasting personal relationship and in which he ultimately chose to be buried.

The Misteri di Trapani

The church is closely associated with the Misteri di Trapani, the sculptural groups representing episodes from the Passion and death of Christ that form the centrepiece of Trapani’s Good Friday procession.

Lina Novara traces the origins of the tradition to the period between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The procession was associated with the Società del Sangue di Cristo, which in 1646 was united with the Confraternita di San Michele.

The groups were created using a characteristic technique known as legno, tela e colla — wood, canvas and glue. Wooden structural elements were combined with modelling in canvas and adhesive to create figures capable of considerable movement and expression while remaining suitable for processional use.

The surviving collection comprises eighteen Passion groups together with the simulacra of Gesù nell’urna and the Addolorata. Although the tradition has earlier origins, Novara notes that most of the groups carried in the modern procession are eighteenth-century reworkings of earlier compositions.

The church and the procession

The association between the Purgatorio and the Misteri has made the church an important focus of Trapani’s religious and cultural identity. Outside the annual procession, the sculptural groups have traditionally been displayed within the church, allowing them to be viewed individually rather than as part of the moving processional ensemble.

The relationship between the groups and their setting has not, however, always been uninterrupted. The Misteri departed from the Chiesa del Collegio between 1947 and 1957, and restoration work at the Purgatorio led to their temporary transfer there again in December 2025.

These movements reflect changes in the practical conservation and organisation of the collection, while the Church of the Holy Souls in Purgatory remains historically identified as the home of the Misteri.