Even if the Ss. Salvatore's church is one of the biggest example of the baroque art, the first building dates back to the normann era, in 1071, after the conquer of the city of Palermo, at that time under the arabs domination, by the brothers Roberto the Guiscardo and Ruggero I. It was probably Roberto that wanted to give a church to the city and a monastery, under the rule of S. Basilio Magno. 

 

Of the normann era nothing remains, just the cloister of the ex monastery, turned in a school in 1866. It's was one of the richest of Sicily, joung women of nobils palermitan families, used to lived there. It's fame, according to the legend, is related to the appartenence of the basilian order (under the rule of S. Basilio Magno) of two important female figures: Costanza d'Altavilla, then Queen, after the marriage to Enrico VI Hohenstaufen withing becoming the mother of Federico II; and S. Rosalia, patron of the city since 1624. The first transformation of the church dates back to 1528, when the normann structure was transformed to a Renaissance church with three naves and side chapels. 

 

The today church was made by Paolo Amato in 1682, the access, since then in a side street was moved to the Cassaro, the today main street Via Vittorio Emanuele. To make different this church to the others it's the architecture and the stair in the access with side columns, like Solomon's Temple. Of the normann church keep it the greek plant inscript into a dodecagonal structure, twelve sides as the Tribes of Israel in the Old Testament and the Apostols of the New Testament. 

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At the top of the church, an elliptical dome, that give us a 360° view to the city. Both the fresco's in the dome and in the access were made by Vito D'anna, and represents scenes of S. Basilio Magno. On the right of the stairs "The guarigion of a sick baby", on the left "The sermon of S. Basilio". Up the stair Cardinal's Virtues (Justice, Fortitude, Temperance, Prudence). On the dome, "The Apotheosis of S. Basilio". The church walls are decorated in marble, this decoration it's called "Mischi and Tramischi", because puts together different types of marbles and plays with two-dimensional and three-dimensional planes. 

During the II World War one of the bomb that fell to the city, went down to the church, hitting the dome. For many years abandoned, only in 1959-60, thanks to the architect Franco Minissi and the bishop Ernesto Ruffini, the church was restored and added a new function: auditorium. To adjust the acoustic, the main altar was rotated, not frontal but on the side.