Noto

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The church of Santa Chiara (St. Claire) is located on the corner of the main street, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, and Via Pier Capponi near Porta Reale. It was built by the Benedictine nuns who wanted to build the monastery and the church attached to the convent. The work was entrusted to the great architect Rosario Gagliardi , who oversaw both projects .
Though the monastery no longer reflects the original design due to various changes over time, the same cannot be said of the church. The religious building, completed in 1758, is small in size and has a façade which is also small and similar to a bell tower spread across three storeys.
On the first storey there is the old entrance, no longer used today because the street level was lowered. The second has a louvre window;

The church of Santa Chiara
The church of Santa Chiara is located at the corner of the main street, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, and Via Pier Capponi. The building has an oval plan and this means that even the vault has this shape. The decoration of the vault has a white background with decorations in golden stucco made to a design by the architect Rosario Gagliardi. On the white trabeation and with the edges in golden stucco six windows are placed, three on one side and three on the other; to open to close each row of windows, a picture at the beginning and one at the end, between the windows and the pictures are placed the apostles; follows the decoration of the vault with in the center a cloud and golden putti from which sprout golden rays.

and the third a bell tower and roof terrace with excellent views over the whole city of Noto.
The new entrance was built on the right side of the building, where a side staircase grants access to the church. The material used for the façade is the unmistakable white limestone, which, when lit up by the sun, turns the colour of gold!

dettaglio gelosia  foto dalla terrazza

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