Noto

The city palace

Palazzo Ducezio is a very compact building, with an elongated rectangular plan with no courtyard. There is a strong difference in height between the two main longitudinal façades.
Vincenzo Sinatra ) probably based the model of the palace on some drawings of the French villa bought in Montpellier by Baron Giacomo Nicolaci.
The ground floor is defined by an elegant portico with arches framed by a level of columns with Ionic capitals which runs along three sides. In the vicinity of the four corners of the building, the portico changes linear style with a concave shape that creates small indentations.
In 1950 the building was crowned with a raised part with a stone balustrade.
The central part of the palace, placed in line with the cathedral, is characterised by an accentuated convexity corresponding to the internal circular hall.The plan of the building has a series of rooms with different plans. Examples include the circular hall or the famous ovoid-shaped “Sala degli Specchi” (Hall of Mirrors) furnished with Louis XV furniture and large mirrors – which create the illusion of a larger space – sculpted by the Avola-born artist Sebastiano Dugo. On the vault of this room is the fresco “Fondazione di Neas” painted by Antonio Mazza, the neoclassical work depicting the foundation of Noto by the Sicilian condottiero, Ducezio.
 

The interior and works of art

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

A unifying project for the city of Catania

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

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

The two churches

The art of maiolica

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The Franciscan convent

The city palace

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The eagle-shaped city

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

A stone garden

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The Benedictines’ library

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

The articulated interior spaces

A heritage of votive works

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

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

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

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

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

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

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

The Staircase of Angels

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

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

Reconstruction after the earthquake

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The palace, the town, the church

A story of rebirth

St. Agatha and the candelore

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

Luminous sacred spaces

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

The interior of the church: space and colour

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The Palazzo dei due mori

The Church of St. Benedict

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The expansion of space and changing reality

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

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

The new roads of the city

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

Art in the cathedral

The church and the college

The Church of St. Francis

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

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

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

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

The city within the city

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

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

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

Religious architecture

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

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

The works in the church

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

City and nature

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

One city, three sites

The church and the monastery

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

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

A casket of precious works

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The Church of St. Paul