Catania

A small room with a golden entrance

La cappella di Sant'Agata (St. Agatha) è uno dei luoghi più amati dai catanesi: situata nell’ Apse destro della cattedrale, fu voluta dal viceré Ferdinando d'Acuňa , ma, dopo la sua morte, della costruzione si occupò la moglie Maria d’Avila.
 
I lavori iniziarono nel 1495, a cura dello scultore Antonello Freri da Messina, e il risultato è ancora oggi visibile, un trionfo di luci e colori.
Per la pavimentazione si scelsero marmi di varie tinte: nero, bianco, grigio, rosso; per le pareti sono le sculture a dare vitalità ai muri, ulteriormente arricchite nelle parti più alte da meravigliosi affreschi.
Tutta questa luminosità, data anche e soprattutto dall’uso dell’oro, contrasta con la cancellata in ferro battuto che divide la cappella dal resto della chiesa.
foto alla cappella nel suo insieme
L’interno presenta una splendida decorazione dietro l’altare dove si alternano tra le sculture il bianco e l’oro. A catturare l’attenzione è il retablo .
Posto dietro l’altare, esso è una scultura con al centro la glorificazione di Sant’Agata che viene presentata a Cristo dalla Vergine, a destra e sinistra, rispettivamente, San Paolo e San Pietro, e in alto chiudono la composizione i quattro evangelisti: San Marco, San Luca, San Matteo e San Giovanni.

Zoom Retablo
retablo

A destra dell’altare, si trova il monumento sepolcrale di Ferdinando d’Acuňa, a sinistra, una cancellata dorata invece nasconde la “cammaredda”: una stanza di piccole dimensioni dove, in brillanti scrigni d’argento, si conservano le reliquie di Sant’Agata.

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

A half-Baroque church

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A hall for the feasts

One city, three sites

A talking palace

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

A miniature city

The Maiolica of the staircase

A city in colour

Wonderful quick decorations

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

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A majestic and luminous church

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

A triumph of colour

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A colourful floor

A small room with a golden entrance

The internal colours

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

Feasting in Palazzolo

The theatre of taste

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

From International Gothic to present day

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The disastrous earthquake

The Staircase of Angels

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

A square as the heart of the city

Limestone, the colour of harmony

New roads for Catania

Two illustrious patron saints

Searching for colour

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Prominent façade

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

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The city of museums

Many owners, one palace

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

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The two churches

A new site for a new church

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

Norman apses

The interior and its masterpieces

Feast days

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Discovering the mother church

A prominent church

The wall comes to life

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

Some prestigious works

One city, two sites

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

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

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

The chocolate of Modica

A long reconstruction

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The church of Carmine

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The Baroque town by the sea

A feast only for Scicli

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

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

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

The colours of the cathedral

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

A museum to save a tradition

Between white and black

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Burgos crucifix

Some masterpieces

A symbol for the town

A new site for a new city

An eagle-shaped city