Introduction to Val di Noto

Religious architecture

For religious buildings, the architecture of the Baroque period sought to become a guiding principle for a journey of faith through the very form of the construction and its ornaments.
The façade features the characteristic elements of the sacred building and reveals its symbolic contents in its sculptural decorations, allegories of saints, votive scrolls and dedications, kept within the rigid geometric and compositional rules typical of the architecture of this period.
The sculptural and “moved” façades lead to an interior that is rich and exciting due to the triumph of colour, stuccoes and decorations that captivate worshippers, rousing wonder and amazement, right up to the crowning moment in the vault with the mystical sight of the triumph of the Saints.

The articulated interior spaces

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

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

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

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

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The two churches

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

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

The works in the church

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

The Church of St. Francis

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The Church of St. Paul

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

A stone garden

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

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

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

St. Agatha and the candelore

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The palace, the town, the church

The church and the monastery

The Palazzo dei due mori

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

Religious architecture

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

Art in the cathedral

The interior and works of art

A story of rebirth

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The church and the college

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

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

The Church of Madonna della Stella

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The art of maiolica

A heritage of votive works

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

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

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

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

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The Franciscan convent

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

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

One city, three sites

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

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

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

The city palace

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

A casket of precious works

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

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

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

City and nature

The city within the city

The interior of the church: space and colour

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

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

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

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The eagle-shaped city

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The Benedictines’ library

Luminous sacred spaces

The Staircase of Angels

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The expansion of space and changing reality

The new roads of the city

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The Church of St. Benedict

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

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism