Catania

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

Via dei Crociferi is a street a little more than one hundred metres long where some of Catania’s major Baroque architecture was built.
Among these is the exquisite church of San Giuliano (St. Julian), part of the architectural complex of the former Benedictine monastery. When the building in the old town (now Piazza Cutelli) was destroyed by the earthquake, the abbess Bonaiuto began its reconstruction. In 1703, with the help of her brother Don Fernando and the Bishop Riggio, the abbess sold the ruins of the old monastery and land, and began reconstruction on Via dei Crociferi.
The construction was long and complex. In 1741, when the final piece of land was purchased to build the church, the monastery had a dormitory, parlour and sacristy.

foto facciata chiesa frontale
When you are inside San Giuliano ai Crociferi it seems to be in a casket. The church has a central plan. Carved into the walls there are four niches, a small chapel and the high altar. The dome is painted with frescoes by the Catania painter Giuseppe Rapisardi. The scene shows Saint Berillo, the city’s third patron, while receiving from Saint Peter the task of founding the Catanese Church. Under the dome are four windows. Below are potbellied grates that allowed nuns to attend church celebrations.

Giuseppe Palazzotto was the architect and site manager; though tradition attributes this role to Vaccarini, in all likelihood he was only the designer of the project.

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A new site for a new city

A prominent church

Two illustrious patron saints

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The Staircase of Angels

Between white and black

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

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

A colourful floor

Many owners, one palace

The church of Carmine

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Some prestigious works

A long reconstruction

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Some masterpieces

One city, three sites

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

One city, two sites

The theatre of taste

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

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

The façade used as a puppet theatre

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

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The interior and its masterpieces

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

A symbol for the town

A small room with a golden entrance

The internal colours

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

A square as the heart of the city

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Feasting in Palazzolo

A talking palace

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Discovering the mother church

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

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

New roads for Catania

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

From International Gothic to present day

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

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

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Prominent façade

The wall comes to life

Wonderful quick decorations

A half-Baroque church

The city of museums

Feast days

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

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The Burgos crucifix

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A majestic and luminous church

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The Baroque town by the sea

A city in colour

A triumph of colour

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The chocolate of Modica

Norman apses

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The Maiolica of the staircase

The two churches

Searching for colour

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

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

A new site for a new church

The colours of the cathedral

The disastrous earthquake

A museum to save a tradition

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A miniature city

An eagle-shaped city

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

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

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

A hall for the feasts