Catania

St. Agatha and the candelore

The worship of St. Agatha is highly important for the community of Catania’s identity.
The agatini places (places that worship St. Agatha) are not only a document of faith, history and art, but they become a veritable cultural identity card in which the community recognises itself. For this reason, the feast and celebrations of St. Agatha actively involve the entire city.
Every year, from 3rd to 5th February, Catania offers its patron saint an extraordinary feast. Processions in the location of the martyrdom, fireworks, the parade of the saint’s reliquary bust and the day of the candelore take place.

This day is reserved for the evocative tradition of the candelore (candelabra), veritable wooden works of art of remarkable sizes, which also pass in front of the Badia di Sant’Agata (St. Agatha’s Abbey) during the procession.
Tradition also has it that they weigh as much as those asking for the Saint’s protection and are carried on the shoulders of between 4 and 12 people.
The candelabra procession always parades in the same order: first is the candelabra of Monsignor Ventimiglia, followed by the candelabra of the inhabitants of the San Giuseppe La Rena quarter, then that of the gardeners and florists. The fourth is the candelabra of the fishmongers.
Then come the greengrocers, the most elegant candelabra nicknamed the “signorina” (young lady), then the candelabra of the butchers, pasta makers, “pizzicagnoli” (delicatessen shopkeepers) and innkeepers, followed by the candelabra of the bakers, the heaviest of all, named “mamma” (mum). The procession is closed by the candelabra of the St. Agatha recreation club.
processione dei ceri Le candelore della festa di Sant'Agata

The new roads of the city

The Church of Madonna della Stella

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

Art in the cathedral

Religious architecture

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The expansion of space and changing reality

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

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

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

One city, three sites

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

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The city within the city

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

A heritage of votive works

A stone garden

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The eagle-shaped city

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

St. Agatha and the candelore

City and nature

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

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

A unifying project for the city of Catania

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The articulated interior spaces

The Church of St. Benedict

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

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

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

The Church of St. Paul

The interior and works of art

The Church of St. Francis

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

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

A story of rebirth

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

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The interior of the church: space and colour

The Palazzo dei due mori

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The Benedictines’ library

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

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

The works in the church

The palace, the town, the church

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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

Reconstruction after the earthquake

A casket of precious works

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

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

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

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

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The Franciscan convent

Luminous sacred spaces

The church and the college

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

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

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

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The art of maiolica

The two churches

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

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

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The church and the monastery

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The Staircase of Angels

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

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

The city palace