Militello in Val di Catania

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The church of Madonna della Stella (Our Lady of the Star) is one of the two main hubs of religious life in Militello, together with the Mother Church of San Nicolò or San Salvatore (St. Salvador).
Both churches were destroyed during the 1693 earthquake and remained without a seat for many years until the feudal families funded their reconstruction.
The church, dedicated to the city’s patron, the Madonna della Stella , was founded in the district of Sant’Antonio Abate; its foundation dates back to 1722 and it was completed in 1741.
The façade rises to the top of a modest but scenic staircase, acting as the main backdrop to the square of the same name.

The Church of Madonna della Stella
The church dominates at the top of the modest but spectacular entrance staircase and stands as a scenic fifth on the homonymous square. The façade was designed by the architect-sculptor Giuseppe Ferrara and is in typical late-baroque style. The harmonious stone facade rich in carvings is divided horizontally into two bands or orders and vertically by Corinthian pilasters that create interesting plays of light and shadow on the facade that ends with two elegant volutes and a window that illuminates the central nave. The first order, flat and massive, is lightened by three openings, of which the central one has an entrance framed by a stone portal with decorated twisted columns while the side portals have above them two oculi with curved decorations. On the left side of the facade but detached from it, we find the robust bell tower of 1773 that takes the motifs of the pilasters and oculi of the facade of the church.

Designed by the architect-sculptor Giuseppe Ferrara, who settled in Palazzolo Acreide and was active in the reconstruction of the Val di Noto, the façade is in typical late Baroque style.
portale con dettaglio colonneThe harmonious stone façade rich in carvings is divided horizontally into two levels and vertically by Corinthian pilasters enclosed at the sides by elegant volutes that make the structure move. In the middle is a large window that illuminates the central nave.
The first level, richly decorated, is lightened by three openings, of which the central one stands out most.
It consists of a beautiful entrance framed by a stone portal with decorated Solomonic columns , which interact with the curvilinear pattern of the two oculi placed above the entrances to the lateral naves.
On the left side of the façade, but detached from it, is the sturdy bell tower dating from 1773, which incorporates the motifs of the pilasters and the oculi of the church elevation.

The expansion of space and changing reality

The new roads of the city

Luminous sacred spaces

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The church and the college

The two churches

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Palazzo dei due mori

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

A story of rebirth

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The interior of the church: space and colour

The Church of Madonna della Stella

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

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

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

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

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

The city palace

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

The Franciscan convent

The city within the city

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The Church of St. Benedict

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

St. Agatha and the candelore

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

A heritage of votive works

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

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

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

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

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The art of maiolica

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

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The palace, the town, the church

The Church of St. Paul

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

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

Religious architecture

The articulated interior spaces

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

The Staircase of Angels

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The Church of St. Francis

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The works in the church

The church and the monastery

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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

A stone garden

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The interior and works of art

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The eagle-shaped city

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

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

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

One city, three sites

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Art in the cathedral

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

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

A unifying project for the city of Catania

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

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Benedictines’ library

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

A casket of precious works

City and nature

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico