Palazzo Lucatelli

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The origins of hospital care in Trapani

The history of the Ospedale Sant'Antonio Abate predates the construction of Palazzo Lucatelli.

According to the historical account published by ASP Trapani, the institution originated in a house near the Church of San Pietro, made available by the Luna family to accommodate sick sailors and travellers. The tradition associates its beginnings with the passage of crusaders through Trapani on their journeys to and from the Holy Land.

Additional houses were subsequently donated, allowing the institution to develop into a hospital serving both travellers and the city's poor. A small church dedicated to Sant'Antonio was attached to the complex.

A document issued by King Martin of Aragon on 19 June 1399 records the hospital's association with the Hospital of Saint Anthony of Vienne and its placement under the authority of the Order of Saint Anthony. Its administration was entrusted to three noble rectors, appointed annually by the city's Senate.

The new hospital established in 1455 occupied land purchased by Trapani's maritime consuls using charitable contributions. Its foundation brought the institution to the site it would occupy for more than 500 years.

In 1569, the Confraternity of Sant'Antonio Abate undertook to care for patients without payment and to bury those who died. Administration briefly passed to the Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God in 1589, before returning to the hospital's rectors and confraternity.

The architecture of Palazzo Lucatelli

Palazzo Lucatelli developed through successive building campaigns rather than a single architectural project. The complex occupies a rectangular block bounded by Piazza Lucatelli, Via Cassaretto, Via Verdi and Via San Francesco, and incorporates two adjoining buildings constructed in different periods.

Its sixteenth-century development included the creation of side entrances and a principal portal in 1541. In 1633, a separate hospital for pilgrims and convalescents was added, with an entrance on Via Verdi.

The principal façade reflects later Baroque alterations. Three earlier portals are surmounted by balconies, while the central entrance is emphasised by paired columns and niches. Above the main balcony stands the bust of Captain Lazzaro Lucatelli, commemorating the benefactor whose bequest helped finance the building's seventeenth-century expansion.

A monumental external staircase leads to the principal entrance, while an internal staircase connects the different levels.

The Trapani-born architect Giovanni Biagio Amico designed a large first-floor hospital ward in 1742, situated beside the internal staircase on the Via Cassaretto side. Amico also worked on several other important buildings in the area, including the Church of the Holy Souls in Purgatory and Trapani's Cathedral of San Lorenzo.

The façade underwent further alterations in 1758, associated with the priest-architects Paolo Rizzo and Vincenzo Liotta. These successive phases explain why the building combines Renaissance architectural elements with later Baroque decoration.

The hospital in the nineteenth century

In his Guida per gli stranieri in Trapani (1825), Giuseppe Maria Di Ferro illustrated and described the hospital while it was still in operation.

He praised the symmetry of its façade and the restrained Doric character of the lower storey, although he considered the upper levels rather too elaborate for a building devoted to the care of the sick.

Di Ferro also described the imposing staircase, spacious wards and charitable institutions housed within the complex. These included a home for abandoned girls and a Monte di Pietà, which provided loans secured against pledged possessions.

One of the most notable features he recorded was a life-size wooden sculptural group representing the Crucifixion, with Christ between the two thieves. The work, attributed by Di Ferro to the Trapani sculptor Giuseppe Orlando, was displayed in a room ordinarily occupied by patients.

Di Ferro devoted considerable attention to the figures' expressive qualities, particularly the contrasting attitudes of the two thieves. The sculpture's subsequent history and present location remain to be established.

The hospital was also associated with medical education. During the eighteenth century it housed a medical academy founded and directed by Giuseppe Cottone. In the nineteenth century, physicians including Rocco Solina, Ignazio Lampiasi and Antonino Turretta contributed to its reputation as a centre of medical practice.

From hospital to cultural centre

After the hospital's closure in 1968, Palazzo Lucatelli entered a prolonged period of deterioration. Initial conservation works in 1981 included repairs to the roof and strengthening of the floors, but the building remained without a permanent new function.

In 2004, the Comune di Trapani proposed converting the former hospital into a 900-seat theatre with underground parking. The Soprintendenza rejected the project in 2006 because the extensive removal of internal structures would have irreversibly compromised the building's architectural character.

A different proposal subsequently emerged, envisaging a multipurpose cultural centre with an auditorium, exhibition spaces, library facilities and accommodation for the Ente Luglio Musicale Trapanese.

A restoration tender was published in 2021, with works beginning thereafter. However, the project encountered further difficulties, including the discovery of asbestos, unforeseen structural problems and the need to revise the original specifications. Work was suspended in 2023, with a revised programme announced in 2024.

During 2025–2026, further interventions addressed the building's structural condition, including the roof, floors and external elevations. Particular attention was given to the Via Verdi and Via Cassaretto frontages, where deteriorating masonry had created safety concerns.

Municipal records show that the safety works on these elevations reached their final payment stage in June 2026. A further €5.8 million allocation for completing the restoration was included in Trapani's 2026–2028 public works programme.

The intended cultural centre has not yet been confirmed as open, and the building remains the subject of continuing restoration and redevelopment.

The modern Ospedale Sant'Antonio Abate

When Palazzo Lucatelli closed in 1968, its hospital services transferred to a purpose-built complex at Casa Santa, on the lower slopes of Monte Erice.

Although known as the Ospedale Sant'Antonio Abate di Trapani, the modern hospital stands within the Comune di Erice, rather than in Trapani itself.

Located at Via Cosenza 82, it serves as a Level I emergency hospital, with 444 beds distributed across 21 medical and surgical specialist units, according to ASP Trapani's 2025 institutional information.

The hospital continues to undergo modernisation. In May 2026, an expanded and refurbished emergency department opened following an investment of €925,000. The works included improved reception and triage facilities, upgraded clinical infrastructure and eight beds for short-stay observation.

The modern hospital preserves the name of the institution that served Trapani for centuries, although its buildings, medical facilities and location are entirely different.