Palazzo Abatellis was built in Catalan Gothic style by Matteo Carnelivari in 1490, for Francesco Abatellis, a highly placed dignitary at the court of King Ferdinand of Spain.
It served as a priory from the early 16th- to mid-19th centuries, and today contains the regional art gallery.
The square building has a highly decorated doorway and an inner courtyard with a two-story loggia on one side.
The masterpiece of the paintings collection is in the old palace chapel, the large mural Triumph of Death, painted around 1400 by an unknown artist for the hospital in the Palazzo Scláfani.
Outstanding among the 15th-century Sicilian masters are works by Antonello da Messina: three plaques showing the church fathers Augustine, Gregory, and Hieronymus, but in particular, the 1474 Annunciation of Our Lady in portrait form.
