Modica

Many owners, one palace

foto palazzo salendo da via CalamenzanaPalazzo Tommasi Rosso is located on Corso Francesco Crispi, behind the Cathedral of San Giorgio (St. George), in the ancient district of Francavilla. It is an important testimony to the late Baroque architecture of Modica. Though the palace is named Napolino Tommasi Rosso, the family that commissioned the building was probably the Lorefice family.
In the second half of the 18th century, work began on a majestic two-storey palace with an internal courtyard and a rich, elaborate façade. The façade is symmetrical; the portal in the middle, with two windows on the sides, and three balconies with corbels on the second storey.

porzione del palazzo mascheroni mensoloni del balcone centrale del palazzo
The large portal is enclosed on the left and right by two columns, on which are carved two lion heads and from which hang two elegant cloths. The top is completed by an elegant protruding trabeation with a broken line, typical of Baroque architecture.

zoom colonna del grande portale
colonna del grande portale

The large corbels, five per balcony, are all richly decorated; the two lateral ones were embellished with plant motifs and the middle one features the classic masks of the late Sicilian Baroque palaces. The palace is an elegant building in the heart of the town that tells the story of a bygone era.
dettagli mensoloni

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The interior and its masterpieces

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

Some masterpieces

The theatre of taste

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

The Burgos crucifix

A feast only for Scicli

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

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A symbol for the town

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

A prominent church

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

A new site for a new city

A small room with a golden entrance

A talking palace

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A city in colour

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The city of museums

Feasting in Palazzolo

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

A miniature city

New roads for Catania

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

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

Discovering the mother church

Many owners, one palace

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

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

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The two churches

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

A triumph of colour

Searching for colour

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A new site for a new church

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

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

Some prestigious works

The Baroque town by the sea

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A museum to save a tradition

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A colourful floor

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

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

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The Staircase of Angels

Between white and black

One city, two sites

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The chocolate of Modica

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Prominent façade

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A half-Baroque church

Wonderful quick decorations

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A majestic and luminous church

A long reconstruction

Norman apses

An eagle-shaped city

The internal colours

Modica, a city with ancient origins

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The disastrous earthquake

A hall for the feasts

The Maiolica of the staircase

St. Sebastian, so much work!

A square as the heart of the city

One city, three sites

The colours of the cathedral

Feast days

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The wall comes to life

From International Gothic to present day

The church of Carmine

Two illustrious patron saints