Palazzolo Acreide

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

In this lush territory rich in springs and watercourses, the Corinthians of Syracuse founded their first colony between 664 and 663 BC, which was named Akrai.
It was a fortress city for military and political control over the Sicels of the Hyblaean plateau.
As testified by literary sources, Akrai’s history is closely linked to that of Syracuse. Plutarch tells us that Dion stopped there in 357 BC on his march to Syracuse.
The colony is mentioned in the peace treaty between Rome and Syracuse of 263 BC at the beginning of the First Punic War. This period coincided with the height of the city’s splendour. In 214 BC, Hippocrates was hosted there after being defeated in the clash with the Romans. For Sicily, the period of Roman rule was generally a period of decadence, but this was not the case for Akrai.
This was when the city began to mint its own coins and assumed some economic importance in the region.

The Church of St. Benedict

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

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

A heritage of votive works

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

The interior and works of art

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The church and the college

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

St. Agatha and the candelore

The Palazzo dei due mori

Religious architecture

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

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The expansion of space and changing reality

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

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

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The eagle-shaped city

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The interior of the church: space and colour

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

Art in the cathedral

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The Church of St. Francis

The articulated interior spaces

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

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

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

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The Staircase of Angels

The works in the church

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

City and nature

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The city palace

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

Luminous sacred spaces

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

The city within the city

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

One city, three sites

The Benedictines’ library

The church and the monastery

A casket of precious works

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The palace, the town, the church

Altars, saints and sculptural works

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The Church of Madonna della Stella

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

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

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

The two churches

The new roads of the city

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

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

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

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The Franciscan convent

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

The Church of St. Paul

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

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

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The art of maiolica

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

Reconstruction after the earthquake

A stone garden

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

A story of rebirth