Ragusa

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The church of San Giuseppe (St. Joseph) is located on the corner of Piazza Pola, near the Cathedral of San Giorgio (St. George) in Ibla.foto della piazza che inquadra la chiesa It was built after 1756, when the Benedictine nuns of the nearby convent, led by the abbess Battistina Maria Arezzo, bought the old dilapidated church of San Tommaso Apostolo (Thomas the Apostle). Thanks to them, reconstruction work began for the new church of San Giuseppe (St. Joseph).
The church building was built first, completed in 1774, followed by the demolition of the bell tower and the completion of the external and internal decorations. Foto facciata Initially the design for the new church was attributed to the great architect Rosario Gagliardi because of similarities with his other work, such as the Cathedral of San Giorgio (St. George) and the church of San Domenico (St. Dominic) in Noto. They all featured a horizontal division into three levels, with the final level containing the bell, but opinions have changed over the years and following more in-depth studies. Work by another architect, the Carmelite Friar Alberto Maria di San Giovanni Battista, who worked not only in Ragusa but also on the church of San Giovanni Evangelista (St. John the Evangelist) in Scicli, has a less innovative style than Gagliardi and is more similar to local artistic culture.
Well over seventy years later, Ibla and the Benedictine convent had a functioning new church, enjoyed by nuns and worshippers.
foto Facciata frontale

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Maiolica of the staircase

From International Gothic to present day

A new site for a new city

The interior and its masterpieces

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

Feast days

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A prominent church

The colours of the cathedral

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A new site for a new church

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The Burgos crucifix

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The chocolate of Modica

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A colourful floor

A talking palace

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The two churches

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

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

The internal colours

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

A triumph of colour

The city of museums

The Staircase of Angels

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The theatre of taste

Discovering the mother church

Some prestigious works

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

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

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A symbol for the town

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A miniature city

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A city in colour

The disastrous earthquake

Two illustrious patron saints

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

A square as the heart of the city

A long reconstruction

Wonderful quick decorations

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

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

The church of Carmine

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

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

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

Searching for colour

A hall for the feasts

New roads for Catania

The wall comes to life

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

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A small room with a golden entrance

A majestic and luminous church

One city, three sites

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Norman apses

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A museum to save a tradition

Prominent façade

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

Feasting in Palazzolo

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Between white and black

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A half-Baroque church

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

A feast only for Scicli

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

Some masterpieces

One city, two sites

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

An eagle-shaped city

Many owners, one palace

The Baroque town by the sea

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Connections with other UNESCO sites