Militello in Val di Catania

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

Inside the courtyard of the Barresi-Branciforte castle there is the Fontana della Zizza (Zizza Fountain), dating back to 1607, which is the final part of the water mains.
fontana zizza, frontale di insiemeThe rich family was a great promoter of public works. As a matter of fact, it was responsible for the construction of the aqueduct to channel the spring in the Zizza district to the castle, where the fountain is maintained and used freely by the community.
It was the first source of public drinking water in the town, an event of great importance at the time.
This work, attributed to Giandomenico Gagini , is located on a terraced wall and inserted in an aedicula with half columns, supported by corbels which frame the marble bas-relief of the girl Zizza, from whose breasts the water flows.

Foto fil di ferro Bassorilievo marmoreo della fanciulla Zizza
Bassorilievo marmoreo della fanciulla Zizza

The fountain is demarcated at the sides by two niches, each of which houses a lion’s head.
The work is preceded at the base by an octagonal basin in which a satyr’s mask stands out, decorating the wall that frames it.
leone satiro
The original bas-relief, restored in 2006, has been kept in the former Convent of St. Dominic since the 1990s due to weather degradation. Legend has it that the young Zizza, a shepherdess in love with Lembasi, was betrothed in an unwanted marriage, so she preferred to turn into a spring and her beloved turned into a stream.
The story, which was to convey the meaning of the fountain to citizens, was published in 1623 by Pietro Carrera, a historian and scholar who was part of the Branciforte court.

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

One city, three sites

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

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

The works in the church

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

Art in the cathedral

A casket of precious works

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The church and the monastery

The new roads of the city

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The articulated interior spaces

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

A story of rebirth

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

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

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

The expansion of space and changing reality

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

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

The eagle-shaped city

The Church of St. Paul

The Church of St. Benedict

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

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

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

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

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

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

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

The interior and works of art

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

A heritage of votive works

A stone garden

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

The casket of austerity under the great dome

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A unifying project for the city of Catania

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

St. Agatha and the candelore

Reconstruction after the earthquake

City and nature

The church and the college

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The palace, the town, the church

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The city within the city

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

The Staircase of Angels

Religious architecture

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

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The interior of the church: space and colour

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

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

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The Franciscan convent

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The city palace

The Church of St. Francis

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The Palazzo dei due mori

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

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The two churches

The art of maiolica

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

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

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

Luminous sacred spaces

The Benedictines’ library

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano