Modica

The church of Carmine

The church of Santa Maria del Carmelo (St. Mary of Carmel) is located in Piazza Giacomo Matteotti in the old town. The church was part of a large, wide convent built according to some sources in the mid-13th century, and according to others around the mid-14th century.
Certainly, by the mid-15th century the convent was built and operational because the conference of the entire province of Sicily was held there. The 1693 earthquake damaged the complex, but the church escaped unscathed.
Many Santa Maria del Carmelo structures were saved and the religious building retained the original features of Gothic architecture.

La chiesa di Santa Maria del Carmelo è situata in piazza Giacomo Matteotti. L’ingresso alla chiesa è preceduto da un piccolo cortile chiuso dalla inferiate. Tutta la parte bassa della facciata conserva ancora gli elementi medievali: il rosone, uno dei pochi interi che si conservano in Sicilia; il portale d’accesso ad arco a sesto acuto e parte del campanile con le feritorie. A chiudere la facciata si trovano le aggiunte in stile barocco, post terremoto; si tratta della parte che comprende: la nicchia con la statua al centro e le due finestre ai lati. La nicchia ha un timpano spezzato al centro le finestre hanno timpano semicircolare.
Chiesa del Carmine
La chiesa di Santa Maria del Carmelo è situata in piazza Giacomo Matteotti. L’ingresso alla chiesa è preceduto da un piccolo cortile chiuso dalla inferiate. Tutta la parte bassa della facciata conserva ancora gli elementi medievali: il rosone, uno dei pochi interi che si conservano in Sicilia; il portale d’accesso ad arco a sesto acuto e parte del campanile con le feritorie. A chiudere la facciata si trovano le aggiunte in stile barocco, post terremoto; si tratta della parte che comprende: la nicchia con la statua al centro e le due finestre ai lati. La nicchia ha un timpano spezzato al centro le finestre hanno timpano semicircolare.

In fact, the entire lower part of the façade still retains medieval elements such as the rose window , the ogival arch entrance portal and part of the bell tower with embrasures .

zoom il portale d’accesso ad arco a sesto acuto
il portale d’accesso ad arco a sesto acuto

The façade is completed by Baroque-style additions made following the earthquake: the two windows, the bell tower and the niche completed at the top by a broken tympanum and a statue in the middle.

zoom Campanile
Campanile

The entrance to the church is preceded by a small courtyard enclosed by iron grating. It was also recently discovered that the nave , as the church appears today, was built after the earthquake.

dettaglio rosone  Nicchia con statua sopra il rosone

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Wonderful quick decorations

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The internal colours

A city in colour

Some masterpieces

A triumph of colour

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

A majestic and luminous church

One city, three sites

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A museum to save a tradition

Some prestigious works

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The colours of the cathedral

The theatre of taste

A hall for the feasts

The disastrous earthquake

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

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Between white and black

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Burgos crucifix

A new site for a new church

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A new site for a new city

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

Feast days

A symbol for the town

The city of museums

The wall comes to life

One city, two sites

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The Maiolica of the staircase

An eagle-shaped city

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Discovering the mother church

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

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

Prominent façade

A colourful floor

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

The Baroque town by the sea

A small room with a golden entrance

The interior and its masterpieces

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

A long reconstruction

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

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

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

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

A square as the heart of the city

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A prominent church

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The Staircase of Angels

Feasting in Palazzolo

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Searching for colour

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

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

From International Gothic to present day

The two churches

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The chocolate of Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A half-Baroque church

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

Norman apses

A feast only for Scicli

Modica, a city with ancient origins

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A talking palace

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

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

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Two illustrious patron saints

New roads for Catania

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A miniature city

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The church of Carmine

Many owners, one palace

A new palace for the La Rocca lords