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.

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

A half-Baroque church

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Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The colours of the cathedral

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

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The Staircase of Angels

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Some prestigious works

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A long reconstruction

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Feasting in Palazzolo

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A miniature city

A majestic and luminous church

The city of museums

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Between white and black

One city, two sites

The internal colours

A new site for a new city

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

Two illustrious patron saints

A city in colour

Feast days

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The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A hall for the feasts

A prominent church

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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The two churches

Prominent façade

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The Baroque town by the sea

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The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Many owners, one palace

The wall comes to life

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New roads for Catania

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The disastrous earthquake

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Connections with other UNESCO sites

A small room with a golden entrance

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Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

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The interior and its masterpieces

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Wonderful quick decorations

Searching for colour

A triumph of colour

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A colourful floor

Norman apses

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A museum to save a tradition

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Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

A talking palace

The church of Carmine

Some masterpieces

An eagle-shaped city

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

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A feast only for Scicli

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A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

From International Gothic to present day

Discovering the mother church

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The Maiolica of the staircase

The Burgos crucifix

A new site for a new church

The chocolate of Modica

The theatre of taste