Modica

The chocolate of Modica

A visit to Modica means a visit to its churches, walks along Via Umberto and tasting chocolate . Cioccolato di ModicaCocoa has very ancient and not very Sicilian origins. The first people to work the seeds were the Aztecs in distant Central America. It was later in the 16th century that the Spaniards brought the tasty seeds to the County of Modica . What makes Modica’s chocolate unique is its special cold processing, which gives it a grainy and irregular appearance. The first flavours to be added were vanilla and cinnamon, and over the centuries new ones were experimented with. Over the years the techniques were changed and refined, but the master chocolatiers of Modica did not want to modify the original recipe or process in any way.
This means that we can still taste the ancient flavours of an ancient tradition today. In 2003 the city’s twenty producers formed the Modica Chocolate Consortium in the aim of protecting and defining the processing and production techniques.

A square as the heart of the city

The Burgos crucifix

A half-Baroque church

Some masterpieces

Wonderful quick decorations

A miniature city

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A feast only for Scicli

A talking palace

St. Sebastian, so much work!

A triumph of colour

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The colours of the cathedral

Two illustrious patron saints

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

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

The chocolate of Modica

From International Gothic to present day

Many owners, one palace

A museum to save a tradition

A new site for a new city

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Feast days

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The two churches

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Norman apses

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

Prominent façade

The wall comes to life

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The Maiolica of the staircase

The church of Carmine

A small room with a golden entrance

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

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

The interior and its masterpieces

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

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

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

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

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

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The theatre of taste

A symbol for the town

The city of museums

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A prominent church

New roads for Catania

One city, three sites

Searching for colour

The internal colours

A new site for a new church

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Feasting in Palazzolo

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A long reconstruction

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

One city, two sites

Between white and black

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A colourful floor

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

The disastrous earthquake

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

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

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A city in colour

A majestic and luminous church

A hall for the feasts

The Staircase of Angels

Some prestigious works

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Discovering the mother church

The Baroque town by the sea

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Modica, a city with ancient origins

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

An eagle-shaped city

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

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

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