Erected in 1575, following a vow made by the city during a long plague, it is surrounded on three sides by Ghibelline battlements and leaning against the remains of the 1292 walls of James of Aragon. It belonged to a confraternity of sailors of the Merchant Navy. The church has a single nave with a semicircular apse covered by a small dome, according to a widespread Renaissance typology. Externally, it is characterised by an original medieval architectural style, given the characteristic swallow-tailed battlements that crown it.
Church of Saint Roch
Inside, which is accessed through a pronaos, it is worth mentioning the 18th-century wooden altar on which is the late 16th-century polychrome statue of St. Roch and at the sides of which were two canvases, St. James and Our Lady of Sorrows, stolen in 1987 as were other works. Also worth mentioning is a marble monument of a sailor from the Merchant Navy dating from 1876.
In July 1743, this church was the protagonist of a prodigious event: during the procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, while there was a plague in Messina, the doors of the church opened at S. Rocco and the figure of the blessing saint rose above the dome as a sign of protection for the city.