Pia Opera Pastore
The Pia Opera Pastore was a private charitable institution, mainly in support of poor and sick people, which had its seat in the palace of the baron Felice Pastore near Porta Trapani, in Alcamo . Historical hints. The building was constructed between 1870 and 1874, following the testamentary dispositions of the baron Felice Pastore Cambon, and assigned to the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. His wife, that is Donna Stefania Naselli di Montaperto of the dukes of Gela and sister of Giovan Battista Naselli, the archbishop of Palermo (1853-1870), was decisive in fetching the  Nuns of Charity to Alcamo. In fact, even if she could stop the foundation of this institution, as she survived her husband, she did not do it, on the contrary she helped it. Its main purposes were the following: The foundation had also to keep a dispensary and a pharmacy for the people in need that the Nuns had to care. Initially, from 1870 to 1874, it operated at Palazzo Pastore in corso 6 Aprile, then it moved to the seat in via Pia Opera Pastore. The first Mother superior was Suor Luisa Castets, a French woman from Besançon and  in the first years of its actitivity classes were given in French. In 1913, owing to financial problems, they modified the statute and closed the pharmacy; between 1914 and 1916 it was the seat of a private Teachers' training school (Istituto Magistrale). Thanks to a financing by the Ministry of the Interior, there was an antitubercular preventive sanatorium for children who were lodged at the prophylactic Dispensary, if they were sick, and went back home when they had recovered their health. In 1945 they set up an infirmary, a new hall for sick people; in 1954 they opened a nursery  school, which was closed in 1958. Owing to the 1968 Belice earthquake, the premises were unfit for use, but the nuns went on assisting the earthquake victims from Alcamo and the neighbouring towns. The building is internally divided into three wings, with the chapel in the central one on the ground floor, which you can enter through a lobby; there were the waiting room, the secretary's office, service rooms and a large corridor here. The right wing was occupied by the nursery school and the left one by the elementary school, that was free for poor families and fee -paying for the rich ones. In the rooms adjoining the chapel there were the kitchen and the refectory; on the first floor there were once the dormitory and the laboratory of cutting and embroidery. In 1956 they built a new wing for the Preventorium, closed in the sixties thanks to the improvement of the hygienic and sanitarian conditions in Alcamo. Later, in 2000 the nuns were moved. At present the premises belong to IPAB ("Public Institutions of Assistance and Charity: Opere Pie Pastore and San Pietro"): some of them are rent for vocational training courses, others are used as a  hospitality centre for non-EU immigrants. Association Figlie di Maria, Ladies of Charity and Female Crusaders of Purity. In 1870 the Vincentian nuns, or Daughters of Charity were called to start the activity of Pia Opera Pastore; one year later they founded the Association Figlie di Maria (the Virgin Mary's Daughters), soon approved by the superior General, which adopted the Statute that was in force in Italy and continued its activity until 2000. On 29 July 1900 the Association "Dame di Carità" (that is Ladies of Charity) was founded by Sister Margherita Castets, Mother Superior of Opera Pia: it  was formed by women who wanted to devote themselves to the comfort of sick people, the outcasts and the poor. The main purpose was promoting spiritual and charitable activities, obtaining food, clothes and money. The members had to be devotee of Saint Vincent de Paul and the Blessed Luisa di Marillac, imitating the virtue, above all charity, praying, receiving Holy Communion and saying the Rosary in suffrage of the dead sisters. The association helped the soldiers' families during World War I, and after Caporetto, it gave support and food to the refugees who were in Alcamo; other important activities were : for the endemic diseases in the period 1929-39, for the soldiers camped in Alcamo during World War II (1935-1951) and various activities financed by the regional government of Sicily between 1944 and 1960. In 1924 they founded the Association "Little Ladies of Charity", whose protector was Saint Luisa di Marillac: its members were girls aged 16, 17 and 18, wearing a blue skirt, a white blouse and black shoes. Their purposes were: During the period of the crisis in the 1920s, these Little Ladies cooperated with the Nuns, collecting wheat and flour, and getting funds for poor families  through different activities like theatre, concerts, etc. During World War II they visited the soldiers who were hospitalized, helping them; in this terrible period the Pia Opera was a real charitable asylum: every day they served a hot meal for more than 1,000 people, and a school meal for more than 100 children. Besides, every year on 15 March (the feast of Saint Luisa di Marillac), on 19 July (Saint Vincent de Paul), and on 20 November (Saint Elizabeth of Hungary) they offered a lunch for the poor in the garden. In 1935 the bishop of Mazara del Vallo (considering  what they had agreed in the national congress held in Rome in 1932, the statute of the Ladies of Charity and after a meeting with all the parsons of the town) established that all the parishes had to found the parish associations of the Ladies of Charity. This decision, taken with the unanimous agreement of the parsons, and with a specific statute, helped the decentralization of the charitable activities connected with Pia Opera Pastore. Since 2 October 1976 the Association was absorbed by the "Juvenile Group of Vincentian Volunteering ". Finally, on 30 May 1935 Sister Elvira La Paglia founded the  association of the "Female Crusaders of Purity": upon admission they swore " to detest indecent fashion". The purpose of this association was to "divulge good and sound customs against the spreading of unseemliness and wordliness of fashion". The association is not existing any longer. ". Description and works in the Chapel. The architectonic structure is in neoclassic style, with triangular-shaped windows. Above the front door there is the Pastore family's coat of arms, represented by a shepherd's crook, three stars and a tower; there is also a balcony of honour with a parapet and small columns. The beautiful chapel , adjoining the foundation, is dedicated to saint Francis of Sales; it is with one nave, three altars in grey and white marble. You can admire some fine architectonic parts in the 18th century Roman style. The building was realized after the design of Giovan Battista Palazzotto and Agostino Castiglia, two architects from Palermo. The chapel was restored in 1983 and has twelve columns, Corinthian capitals, a dome with a large skylight; there are these works: In the sacristy and in the parlour there are these paintings: Today the chapel is used for religious services and meetings of religious kind. Pia