Introduction to Val di Noto

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

The stylistic features of Baroque civic architecture are distinguished from religious architecture by the sobriety of the layout and the rigid compositional lines of the façades.
In most recurring typologies, the sculptural form of the façade composition is abandoned, with the elevation framing following the classic canons of the Renaissance period: base, facing and crowning.
The Baroque genius developed within this composition; the façade was embellished and enriched with figurative elements in high relief that created a play of shadows and chiaroscuro intended to exalt its sometimes grotesque forms.
The base of the buildings, simple in its division compared to Renaissance buildings, has arches that accommodate workshops and shops.

One city, three sites

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The eagle-shaped city

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

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

The two churches

The new roads of the city

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

A heritage of votive works

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

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

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

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The interior and works of art

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The Palazzo dei due mori

The Church of St. Benedict

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

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

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Art in the cathedral

The church and the college

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

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

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The city palace

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The art of maiolica

A story of rebirth

A unifying project for the city of Catania

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

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

The Church of St. Paul

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

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

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

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

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The palace, the town, the church

The Church of St. Francis

City and nature

Altars, saints and sculptural works

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The city within the city

The interior of the church: space and colour

Religious architecture

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

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The church and the monastery

The Franciscan convent

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The articulated interior spaces

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

St. Agatha and the candelore

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The Staircase of Angels

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

Luminous sacred spaces

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The expansion of space and changing reality

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

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

The works in the church

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

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The Benedictines’ library

A casket of precious works

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

A stone garden