Scicli

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

One of the oldest churches in the town, it was spared in the earthquake of 1693. However, it was completely rebuilt in the mid-18th century by Modica-born architect Alessi, who used most of the square overlooked by the church to create as scenic a façade as possible. The works lasted for a century and were completed by the architect Fama of Palermo in the mid-19th century.
The elevation features three levels marked by half columns in the central part and pilaster strips in the lateral part, culminating in the belfry .

Foto fil di ferro Prospetto chiesa di San Michele
Prospetto chiesa di San Michele

The first level is marked by Corinthian columns surmounted by a cornice that follows the course of the free-standing columns, detached from the surface of the façade.
In the centre of the second level is a large wrought iron Louvre window, a memory from the former adjoining convent where the Augustinian cloistered nuns lived. The third level is defined by smooth pilaster strips with Corinthian capitals that frame the belfry.
 
The interior of the sacred building, which houses countless stuccoes, paintings, frescoes and polychrome decorations, has an elliptical plan that creates a play of perspective, and a semi-cylindrical apse .

The vault is stuccoed with floral and animal motifs reminiscent of Eden. The intense blue and gold coloured frescoes give a lively aura to the architectural space.
The floor of the church dates back to the 18th century. In fact, it is the original one made by the Lupo brothers in Ragusa pietra pece and white Comiso stone with a regular chessboard pattern.

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The church and the monastery

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The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

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

The eagle-shaped city

A casket of precious works

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

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The Franciscan convent

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

Luminous sacred spaces

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The casket of austerity under the great dome

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The city palace

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

A heritage of votive works

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

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The palace, the town, the church

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The interior of the church: space and colour

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The interior and works of art

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

A story of rebirth

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

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

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The Benedictines’ library

The articulated interior spaces

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

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

St. Agatha and the candelore

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

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

One city, three sites

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

Art in the cathedral

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

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The expansion of space and changing reality

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

The Church of St. Paul

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

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

The church and the college

The Palazzo dei due mori

City and nature

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

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

A stone garden

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Religious architecture

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The works in the church

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

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

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

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The new roads of the city

The Church of St. Francis

The art of maiolica

The Staircase of Angels

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

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Church of St. Benedict

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

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

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The two churches

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

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

A unifying project for the city of Catania

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The city within the city

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

Altars, saints and sculptural works