Catania

Wonderful quick decorations

A strike of colour leaves you breathless as you enter the church of San Benedetto (St. Benedict) on Via dei Crociferi.
The paintings that decorate the interior have a timeless beauty.
The painter Giovanni Tuccari was commissioned to fresco the church. He completed the entire painting series in just three years (1726-1729). At the centre of the vault is the triumph of St. Benedict accompanied by his sister, St. Scholastica, and Pope Gregory I. At the sides, Tuccari completed the work and painted some scenes from the saint’s life: him welcoming St. Maurus and St. Placidus, two Benedictine saints, and on another, Totila, king of the Ostrogoths, a barbarian population, kneels before him.
To complete the decoration, there is a series of female figures above the windows, the allegories of virtues : the first is prudence, a woman depicted near a marble column, a symbol of fortress; followed by temperance, faith, hope and splendid charity, a woman nursing her own baby and two others.
The depictions are full of figures, so the spectator becomes part of the scene, overwhelmed by the events. This effect and ability to involve the observer is all down to the artist. Using a play on light and shadow, Giovanni Tuccari : bestows movement and vitality upon the scenes. At the same time this painting technique allowed him to work extremely quickly; he completed the work in just three years.

Norman apses

A new site for a new city

A new site for a new church

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The role of the religious orders in rebuilding the Val di Noto

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The church of Carmine

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A miniature city

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell the Benedictine Monastery and San NicoIò l’Arena

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

New roads for Catania

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The theatre of taste

A hall for the feasts

A square as the heart of the city

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Giuliano ai Crociferi

A prominent church

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The wall comes to life

From the contrast of the exterior to the internal jubilation of colours

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The senses tell the story of the Badia di Sant’Agata

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

Two illustrious patron saints

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giovanni Battista

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Some masterpieces

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A triumph of colour

The senses tell the Mother Church of San Nicolò and of the Santissimo Salvatore

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A feast only for Scicli

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The city of museums

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Many owners, one palace

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A small room with a golden entrance

The Baroque town by the sea

A colourful floor

A symbol for the town

A museum to save a tradition

Church of San Giuliano (St. Julian) on Via dei Crociferi: reconstruction

Feasting in Palazzolo

The senses tell the story of the staircase of Santa Maria del Monte

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A half-Baroque church

From International Gothic to present day

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Staircase of Angels

An eagle-shaped city

One city, three sites

A talking palace

The disastrous earthquake

Some prestigious works

A majestic and luminous church

A city in colour

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Prominent façade

Freedom of worship and the role of the Catholic Church in the diffusion of Baroque

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Searching for colour

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The Burgos crucifix

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A long reconstruction

The interior and its masterpieces

One city, two sites

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Discovering the mother church

Feast days

Wonderful quick decorations

The two churches

The colours of the cathedral

The chocolate of Modica

The senses tell the story of the church of Santa Maria del Carmelo

Between white and black

The Maiolica of the staircase

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The internal colours

Connections with other UNESCO sites