Catania

A story of rebirth

Piazza Duomo is one of the most important squares in Catania. In a few dozen metres, this location houses priceless artistic and architectural heritage.
The Cathedral of Sant'Agata is one of the buildings on the square, an area that has always been brimming with life. After the 18th-century reconstruction, the cathedral played the role of a scenic backdrop, without neglecting its important function as backdrop to the modern Via Ferdinandea (now Via Garibaldi) located in line with the church.
foto d'insieme facciata dalla piazza con elefante
The Cathedral’s history began with the Norman King Roger I of Sicily, who built it using the foundations of the Achilliane Roman baths, where the saint was martyred in 251 AD.
Completed in 1094, the Norman cathedral had a Latin cross plan with three naves and three apses and elements that led to a fortified church with two watchtowers.
The sovereigns who ascended to the throne over the centuries changed the appearance of the church, where the remains of St. Agatha were moved in 1376. Between the end of the 1500s and 1693, the bishops had the vaults decorated and raised the floor level to insert a large wooden choir.
The apses were then modified and the Roman painter Giovanni Battista Corradini painted the upper part of the semi-dome with “Il trionfo di Sant’Agata, incoronata da Cristo e Maria” (The Triumph of St. Agatha, Crowned by Christ and Mary), while the decorations of the Saint’s chapel were carried out in 1684 by the Catanese painter Paolo Mignemi.
zoom cupola abside chiesa di sant'Agata

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The Staircase of Angels

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

A heritage of votive works

St. Agatha and the candelore

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

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

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The city palace

The interior of the church: space and colour

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

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

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The eagle-shaped city

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

One city, three sites

The palace, the town, the church

Religious architecture

The Church of St. Benedict

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The articulated interior spaces

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

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The Franciscan convent

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The two churches

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

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

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

A stone garden

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

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

Art in the cathedral

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The Benedictines’ library

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

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The Church of St. Paul

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The expansion of space and changing reality

A unifying project for the city of Catania

Reconstruction after the earthquake

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The new roads of the city

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

The Palazzo dei due mori

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

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

City and nature

The works in the church

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

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

The interior and works of art

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

The Church of Madonna della Stella

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The church and the college

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

A casket of precious works

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

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

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The city within the city

The church and the monastery

A story of rebirth

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

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

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

The art of maiolica

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The Church of St. Francis

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

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

Luminous sacred spaces

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

A Nobel Prize in Modica