Militello in Val di Catania

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

During the feudal dominion of the Barresi-Branciforti family, the town of Militello in Val di Catania featured prominently in the town’s commendable reconfiguration.
The prince Francesco Branciforte, once he had married Lady Joanna of Austria, the granddaughter of Charles V and cousin of the King of Spain, launched an urbanisation plan to redesign the small town to make it suitable for new cultural and delegation needs that a modern and such high-ranking court would require. The town’s transformations included one that involved the fortified castle, transformed into a palace and equipped in 1612 with a well-stocked library , a printing house and a sort of “alchemist’s” laboratory.
castello Barresi-Branciforte
A fountain was later built in the castle’s courtyard and was accessible to the population. This action aimed to underline the prince’s great focus on public works.
The square of the mother church was modernised in 1617 alongside the two main roads of the centre of Militello, which were widened and straightened. Connecting roads were also built outside the former perimeter walls, which encouraged the creation of new districts.
The powerful family was also a promoter of patronage that benefited civic religious life, thanks to funding for the reconstruction of the bell tower of the Mother Church of St. Nicholas and the extension of the Church of St. Mary, which was the burial place of the Barresi family as of the 16th century. In the 18th century the Branciforte family moved to Palermo but continued to own the fiefdom of Militello until the abolition of feudalism in 1812.

A story of rebirth

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

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

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The church and the monastery

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The Franciscan convent

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

A unifying project for the city of Catania

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

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

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

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The Palazzo dei due mori

The interior and works of art

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The Church of St. Benedict

The palace, the town, the church

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

A heritage of votive works

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Luminous sacred spaces

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

A stone garden

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

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

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

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

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

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

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

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The works in the church

The Church of St. Francis

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

One city, three sites

The city palace

Reconstruction after the earthquake

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

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

A casket of precious works

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The articulated interior spaces

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The eagle-shaped city

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The art of maiolica

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

City and nature

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

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The church and the college

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

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

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The Church of Madonna della Stella

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

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

Art in the cathedral

The city within the city

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The Benedictines’ library

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The expansion of space and changing reality

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

St. Agatha and the candelore

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The two churches

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

Religious architecture

The interior of the church: space and colour

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The Church of St. Paul

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

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

The new roads of the city

The Staircase of Angels