Militello in Val di Catania

Barresi-Branciforte: the lords of the fiefdom and the modernisation of the town

During the feudal dominion of the Barresi-Branciforti family, the town of Militello in Val di Catania featured prominently in the town’s commendable reconfiguration.
The prince Francesco Branciforte, once he had married Lady Joanna of Austria, the granddaughter of Charles V and cousin of the King of Spain, launched an urbanisation plan to redesign the small town to make it suitable for new cultural and delegation needs that a modern and such high-ranking court would require. The town’s transformations included one that involved the fortified castle, transformed into a palace and equipped in 1612 with a well-stocked library , a printing house and a sort of “alchemist’s” laboratory.
castello Barresi-Branciforte
A fountain was later built in the castle’s courtyard and was accessible to the population. This action aimed to underline the prince’s great focus on public works.
The square of the mother church was modernised in 1617 alongside the two main roads of the centre of Militello, which were widened and straightened. Connecting roads were also built outside the former perimeter walls, which encouraged the creation of new districts.
The powerful family was also a promoter of patronage that benefited civic religious life, thanks to funding for the reconstruction of the bell tower of the Mother Church of St. Nicholas and the extension of the Church of St. Mary, which was the burial place of the Barresi family as of the 16th century. In the 18th century the Branciforte family moved to Palermo but continued to own the fiefdom of Militello until the abolition of feudalism in 1812.

The Staircase of Angels

The church and the college

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Religious architecture

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

The expansion of space and changing reality

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The Benedictines’ library

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

One city, three sites

The eagle-shaped city

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The senses tell the story of the Sanctuary Church of Santa Maria della Stella

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

A stone garden

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The interior and works of art

The church of San Nicolò l’Arena: the majesty of an unfinished beauty

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The articulated interior spaces

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The palace, the town, the church

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

Reconstruction after the earthquake

Geometry and wonder in civic architecture in the Baroque of the Val di Noto

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The Church of St. Paul

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

A casket of precious works

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The Badia di Sant’Agata (St. Agatha’s Abbey)

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Carlo and the former Jesuit college

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Views denied, views conquered: the power of the devout Benedictines

The art of maiolica

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

Barresi-Branciforte: the lords of the fiefdom and the modernisation of the town

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

Luminous sacred spaces

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

A Nobel Prize in Modica

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The Franciscan convent

Art in the cathedral

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The Church of St. Francis

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

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

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

The interior of the church: space and colour

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The freedom of worship and the Catholic Church’s role in the diffusion of Baroque

A story of rebirth

The city within the city

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The senses tell the Benedictine Monastery and the Church of San Nicolò l’Arena

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

A heritage of votive works

The new roads of the city

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The city palace

The Duomo di San Giorgio (Cathedral of St. George)

The two churches

St. Agatha and the candelore

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

City and nature

Piazza Duomo, the elephant fountain, the heart of the city

The casket of austerity under the great dome

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

Verticality and dynamism of the façade of the Church of San Carlo

The works in the church

The church and the monastery

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The neo-Gothic seminary chapel: symbols, light and space

The Palazzo dei due mori

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The Church of St. Benedict

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The Church of Madonna della Stella