Catania

New roads for Catania

A geometric model was envisaged for the reconstruction and reorganisation of the streets of Catania, formed of streets with right angle intersections, extending around Piazza Duomo.
The four main roads (Via Etnea, Via Sangiuliano, Via Vittorio Emanuele and Via Giuseppe Garibaldi) were designed in this sense.
The former Via Uzeda, now Via Etnea, was designed with the idea of straightening the old Via La Luminaria and creating a long straight road starting from Piazza Duomo.
panorama piazza duomo catania Via Etnea
It was designed to intersect with Via Sangiuliano, which still links the Montevergine district to the sea, and with which it forms the Quattro Canti “.
Via San Giuliano  4 canti con Via Etnea
The other two roads that were built are the current Via Vittorio Emanuele and Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, which today link Piazza Duomo with the old city and Piazza Duomo with Porta Garibaldi respectively.
Via Vittorio Emanuele Via Garibaldi

Via Crociferi was added and completed the city’s new road network, and is where some of the most beautiful churches in Catania were built. It was in these streets that the writer Giovanni Verga  set many of his novels. Some examples include Storia di una capinera (Story of a Blackcap), Una Peccatrice (A Sinner) and I Malavoglia (The Reluctance).
The new road layout brought great advantages to the city of Catania; it made it easier to move around and thus made it possible to create vast spaces where citizens could rush to safety in an earthquake. Reconstruction work was started by groups of workers from Calabria and the area around Etna, experts in the removal of lava stone  blocks.

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A long reconstruction

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A new site for a new church

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A majestic and luminous church

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A feast only for Scicli

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The city of museums

A colourful floor

Two illustrious patron saints

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Feast days

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

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

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The wall comes to life

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A hall for the feasts

Searching for colour

Feasting in Palazzolo

Norman apses

From International Gothic to present day

The colours of the cathedral

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

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

A miniature city

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A museum to save a tradition

Many owners, one palace

Prominent façade

Discovering the mother church

The Burgos crucifix

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

A half-Baroque church

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

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

New roads for Catania

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Some masterpieces

A triumph of colour

A talking palace

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

The theatre of taste

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

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

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Wonderful quick decorations

The Staircase of Angels

A square as the heart of the city

The disastrous earthquake

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The two churches

A small room with a golden entrance

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

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

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

The Maiolica of the staircase

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The chocolate of Modica

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

One city, two sites

A symbol for the town

One city, three sites

A city in colour

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Some prestigious works

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The church of Carmine

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Between white and black

A prominent church

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The interior and its masterpieces

A new site for a new city

An eagle-shaped city

The internal colours

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Baroque town by the sea