The complex of Sant'Anna, including the church and a convent, was built in a zone formerly occupied by an unhealthy inlet, circumscribed by cliffs and filled by alluvial deposits of the former Kemonia river, which dried up a four centuries ago.

In the period of the Sicilian Vespers the area housed the residence of Joanne De Saint Remy, collaborator of Charles of Anjou.

[1] In the 16th century, a chapel dedicated to Our Lady Of Pity is recorded in the so-called “Contrada della Misericordia”.

[1] Since the chapel was too small for the liturgical needs, the authorities of Palermo decided to enlarge the building with patronage from the noble families and the community.

Today the former convent is part of the Galleria d'Arte Moderna Palermo, a museum of Italian art from the 19th and early 20th centuries.