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 Benedictine Monastery and the Church of San Nicolò l’Arena

The city palace

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The expansion of space and changing reality

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The works in the church

The eagle-shaped city

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

Luminous sacred spaces

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A casket of precious works

The interior and works of art

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

Art in the cathedral

The new roads of the city

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The city within the city

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

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

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

A story of rebirth

The church and the college

A stone garden

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The Benedictines’ library

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

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

The two churches

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

Religious architecture

Reconstruction after the earthquake

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

The Church of St. Benedict

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

A heritage of votive works

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

One city, three sites

St. Agatha and the candelore

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

The Palazzo dei due mori

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

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

The Franciscan convent

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

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

The Church of St. Paul

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The church and the monastery

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The interior of the church: space and colour

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

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

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The palace, the town, the church

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

Altars, saints and sculptural works

A unifying project for the city of Catania

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

City and nature

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

The Staircase of Angels

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

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

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The Church of St. Francis

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The articulated interior spaces

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The art of maiolica