Modica

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

inquadrando giardini pensiliAs you ascend the elegant staircase you are surrounded by a hanging garden named the Orto del Piombo (Garden of Lead): a unique setting that welcomes the visitor before coming to the church, similar to the Trinità dei Monti in Rome.
The five Rococo portals suggest the presence of five naves which terminate with three apses after the transept .
Characterised by a central tower, the façade is marked by powerful columns that divide it into five bays , in the first order, where concave and convex forms alternate like stone waves , which add movement to the massive structure.dett parte ondulata dei 5 ingressi con portaliThe thrust effect of the second and third levels is enhanced by the concentration of three columns on each side in the central part, the increasingly sober decorations and the openings of the belfries.
interior of the church, dedicated to the martyrs St. George and Hippolytus, rouses a sense of wonder and grandeur. The five naves that distribute the spaces are delimited by powerful arcades that rest on 22 columns, surmounted by Corinthian capitals .
interno frontale verso abside  meridiana
Enriched by gilding on a celestial background, the capitals increase the mystical atmosphere that joins the scenic dramatics of the light that accompanies the gaze to the transept’s intersection, where the majestic central dome stands 36 metres tall.
On the floor, opposite the main altar, the passing of time is marked by the discreet presence of an elliptical sundial, which was designed in 1895 by the mathematician Armando Pierini. It marks midday as the ray of light enters the hole of the gnomon .
A plaque on the far left of the sundial indicates the geographical coordinates of the church.
  gnomone 

 

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

A heritage of votive works

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

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

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

The city palace

The Benedictines’ library

The Church of Madonna della Stella

One city, three sites

The articulated interior spaces

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

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

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

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

The two churches

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

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

Religious architecture

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The Church of St. Francis

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

A story of rebirth

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The church and the college

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The Franciscan convent

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

St. Agatha and the candelore

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The Church of St. Paul

The Church of St. Benedict

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

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

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

The casket of austerity under the great dome

Art in the cathedral

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

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The eagle-shaped city

The works in the church

The expansion of space and changing reality

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The interior and works of art

The palace, the town, the church

The church and the monastery

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

A unifying project for the city of Catania

A casket of precious works

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

Luminous sacred spaces

The Palazzo dei due mori

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The art of maiolica

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The Staircase of Angels

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

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

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

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The new roads of the city

The city within the city

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

The interior of the church: space and colour

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

A stone garden

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

City and nature

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town