Palazzolo Acreide

Feasting in Palazzolo

In Palazzolo Acreide St. Sebastian is so highly revered that there are two feasts!
The first celebration takes place on the 20th of January, the official day, and the other on the 10th of August. The summer feast is not only important from the religious point of view, but is enriched and completed with a series of activities and performances involving a large number of people.
The choice of date was not at all accidental; first of all it, it meant certain good weather and secondly, it coincided with the wheat harvest.
In addition, following the great migration north and overseas, the summer period was also the time when many Sicilians returned home for their holidays.
Therefore, once the day was decided, all that was left to do was to begin the festivities, which last ten days, from 8th to 17th August, and retrace the traditional rites and functions with musical performances, exhibitions and all kinds of events.
The 10th of August is clearly the more important day. It is the day of the “sciuta”, when the Saint and relics are taken from the churches carried on people’s shoulders as small firecrackers and thousands of “nsareddi”, 2-metre-long multi-coloured paper strips are thrown.
The marching band and fireworks are also not to be missed.
Festa di San SebastianoIt is a feast where the entire country comes to a standstill and the enthusiastic community participates in the celebrations.

New roads for Catania

A city in colour

The chocolate of Modica

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A feast only for Scicli

A miniature city

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The disastrous earthquake

A museum to save a tradition

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

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

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

From International Gothic to present day

A triumph of colour

The church of Carmine

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

The interior and its masterpieces

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Searching for colour

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

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

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Maiolica of the staircase

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

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

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

A symbol for the town

Two illustrious patron saints

Wonderful quick decorations

Feasting in Palazzolo

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Norman apses

An eagle-shaped city

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Prominent façade

Many owners, one palace

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The Burgos crucifix

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Some masterpieces

The wall comes to life

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The theatre of taste

A new site for a new church

Some prestigious works

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The two churches

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Feast days

One city, three sites

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A majestic and luminous church

The colours of the cathedral

A square as the heart of the city

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

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

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Between white and black

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

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

A long reconstruction

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The Staircase of Angels

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

Discovering the mother church

The internal colours

A small room with a golden entrance

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

A new site for a new city

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A talking palace

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

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

The city of museums

A half-Baroque church

A hall for the feasts

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The Baroque town by the sea

A prominent church

A colourful floor

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

One city, two sites