Militello in Val di Catania

A new site for a new church

The chiesa madre di San Nicolò e del Santissimo Salvatore (Mother Church of St. Nicholas and the Holy Saviour) is located on the corner of Via Umberto I and Via Matrice.
It is the result of a long and complex reconstruction following the earthquake of 1693.
Three years after the earthquake the Bishop of Syracuse, on a visit to Militello, ordered the construction of the new church and it was here that problems began. The citizens were divided between those who wanted to rebuild the church in the same place and those who wanted to rebuild it on a safer site; it took 28 years before a definitive location was found.
The foundation stone was laid on 6 December 1721 at the new site, where the present church is located today.
At this point, the reconstruction work was fairly quick: on 20 March 1740, when the church was blessed, the central and lateral naves were almost complete; around 1750, the façade designed by the architect Girolamo Palazzotto was finished; in 1765, the bell tower designed by the architect Francesco Battaglia , from Catania was added, which was joined by the bells and clock eleven years later.
The bell tower on the right was the only one built, thus breaking up the symmetry of the façade. The church was built with the help of many benefactors including the Marquis Nicolò Placido Branciforte and the Abbot Malacria.

The church of San Nicolò and the Most Holy Saviour
The church of San Nicolò and the Most Holy Saviour has an elevated entrance with respect to the road level and can be reached through two side staircases that have twenty-seven steps. The facade is divided horizontally into three levels: the first includes the large central portal, inserted between two pairs of columns and which is closed over by a broken arched tympanum; the two side doors, called “of the sun” and “of the moon”, are surmounted by a window; the second order has in the center a large window with a triangular tympanum on top; the third order, finally, closes the structure, has the shape of a broken arched tympanum and on the top there is a cross supported by a head of cherub. On the right side of the facade is the only bell tower, the left one was not built and the symmetry of the facade is broken.
Many owners, one palace

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Prominent façade

Norman apses

A majestic and luminous church

A long reconstruction

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The colours of the cathedral

The Burgos crucifix

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A half-Baroque church

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A talking palace

The Baroque town by the sea

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Feasting in Palazzolo

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

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

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

The church of Carmine

Feast days

A feast only for Scicli

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Discovering the mother church

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

One city, two sites

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Searching for colour

From International Gothic to present day

A symbol for the town

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A city in colour

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

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

The theatre of taste

A triumph of colour

The interior and its masterpieces

An eagle-shaped city

A new site for a new church

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Wonderful quick decorations

The Staircase of Angels

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

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

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A Nobel Prize in Modica

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

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

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

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The city of museums

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The two churches

A museum to save a tradition

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Some masterpieces

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The Maiolica of the staircase

The chocolate of Modica

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

Some prestigious works

The wall comes to life

A miniature city

Two illustrious patron saints

Between white and black

A hall for the feasts

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

A prominent church

A colourful floor

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

New roads for Catania

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The internal colours

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

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

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

A small room with a golden entrance

A new site for a new city

St. Sebastian, so much work!

One city, three sites

The disastrous earthquake

A square as the heart of the city