Catania

A unifying project for the city of Catania

Catania is one of the cities located in eastern Sicily that overlooks the Ionian Sea and extends to the slopes of Mount Etna.
Etna Catania
The volcano is the symbol of the Etnean capital, though over the centuries its constant activity has been the cause of ruinous events such as the catastrophic eruption of 1669, traces of which are still visible along the streets, and more clearly in the Benedictine monastery.
In 1693 the city was struck by a disastrous earthquake and razed to the ground.
Reconstruction took place on the same site given the strategic position for trade between the coast and further inland. Where possible, the pre-existing buildings were restored, including the fortifications, apses and transept of the Norman Cathedral and some ancient buildings.
The city’s reaction to the earthquake was characterised by the great commitment of the Spanish ruling class, the state and religious authorities who demonstrated a remarkable capacity for organisation and foresight.
Giuseppe Lanza, Duke of Camastra was appointed by the Viceroy Duke of Uzeda as vicar general and quickly implemented the plan to rebuild Catania as soon as 1694. This “plan” was conceived in a unitary fashion, set on a system of roads that were orthogonal and no longer exclusively rigid. Within the system were a series of wide streets and squares that were geometrically different from one another.

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

A stone garden

One city, three sites

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The Staircase of Angels

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

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

The new roads of the city

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

Religious architecture

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The expansion of space and changing reality

The art of maiolica

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

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

The palace, the town, the church

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The interior of the church: space and colour

City and nature

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

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

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The interior and works of art

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

St. Agatha and the candelore

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

A casket of precious works

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

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

The Church of St. Paul

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

Altars, saints and sculptural works

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

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

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

A heritage of votive works

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

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

Luminous sacred spaces

The two churches

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

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

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The Church of St. Francis

A story of rebirth

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The casket of austerity under the great dome

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

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

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

Art in the cathedral

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The city palace

The church and the college

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Franciscan convent

The city within the city

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The works in the church

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The articulated interior spaces

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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

The Palazzo dei due mori

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

The church and the monastery

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

The Benedictines’ library

The eagle-shaped city

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The Church of St. Benedict