Santo Angelo Custode, Alcamo

Santo Angelo Custode ("Holy Guardian Angel", or chiesa delle Riparate, "Sheltered Women", from the name of the women's detention home once inside the nunnery) is a Catholic church located in Alcamo in the province of Trapani, Sicily, southern Italy.

[1] On 24 April 1647, the four municipal administrators founded a House for the Repented or Sheltered Women ("converted sinners"), in order to avoid sins and the devil's temptations.

This institution was called "House of the Sisters of Penance" and they had to live thanks to people's alms and following the rules of the bishop of Mazara del Vallo;[2] they were forced to undergo penance practices and severe body corporal punishments.

In 1659 Francesco Lazio, a priest, left his patrimony to a "Church of the Saint Guardian Angel", which was to be built with the adjoining House of the Sisters of Penance:[2] these women had to follow the Rule of Santa Francesca Romana.

In 1774 there were ten women living there, coming from the provinces of Trapani, Palermo and Messina.