Scicli

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

To access the interior of the church you have to take a curved staircase and pass through a narrow space, the endonarthex (or inner narthex). Once past this tight entrance area, you are embraced by an expansive, bright and highly decorated oval space.

The walls of the church are marked by twelve fluted half columns with Corinthian capitals between which paintings and plant decorations are inserted.
The capitals support a trabeation that follows the curved lines of the interior and stands out, with its deep blue and golden details, from the whiteness of the wall.
Near each column, above the trabeation and between the windows, are sculptures of angels.
The tension of the space and its expansion can also be felt in these details.
From the shutter of the large dome that towers above the church, six large stained glass windows open that introduce infinite shades into the sacred space.

The vault, executed by Giovanni Gianforma in 1776, is abundantly decorated with stuccoes that feature geometric shapes in shades of blue and gold, while large transversal bands branch out from the fresco in the centre.

The church ends with an apse that is more elongated than the oval plan. Behind it is a majestic aedicula where the statue of the saint is kept.
This space is richly decorated with stucco and geometric designs in blue and gold, and is illuminated by the two smaller openings on the vault, which is also decorated.

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The Church of St. Benedict

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

Luminous sacred spaces

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Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

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From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

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The articulated interior spaces

The Staircase of Angels

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Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

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The works in the church

The art of maiolica

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The two churches

The city palace

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

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The casket of austerity under the great dome

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

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The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

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

One city, three sites

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The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

A casket of precious works

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The new roads of the city

Altars, saints and sculptural works

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Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The expansion of space and changing reality

The interior of the church: space and colour

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A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

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

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

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The city within the city

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The Franciscan convent

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Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The church and the college

The interior and works of art

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A stone garden

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

Religious architecture

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

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The Church of St. John the Evangelist

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

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The church and the monastery

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Art in the cathedral

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The Church of St. Paul

The Church of St. Francis

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

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

The palace, the town, the church

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

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

City and nature

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

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A heritage of votive works

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

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

The Benedictines’ library

The eagle-shaped city

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano