Catania

The interior of the church: space and colour

The interior of the church of St. Agatha is a visual synthesis of Baroque principles.
frontale inquadrando altare maggiore
The church has a central, a Greek cross plan. It runs lengthways on a 16-metre-diameter circle around which four other circles are joined that form the side niches, according to the main and transversal axes.
The side niches create effects of contraction and expansion in the space and house 4 altars in yellow Castronovo marble. Reserved for all masonry and architectural structures, the luminous white marble is interrupted only by the chromatic elements in the decorations: the yellow marble of the altars, the sculptures and the decorated floor.
Created by Ignazio Marino’s workshop according to one of his designs, the splendid floor is made of black and white marble and covers the entire surface with an abstract design that points towards the centre of the church.
disegno pavimento
The optical effect created by the floor’s design is reminiscent of the design of the beautiful lantern above, which projects light onto the floor.
The space features Doric pilasters placed in the background and composite order columns that stand out in the foreground and along which runs a broken trabeation .
The trabeation is surmounted by a series of wrought iron candelabra that create a sinuous play of light. The entire space is completed by the dome , once covered externally with square glazed terracotta tiles, removed by the 2008 restoration work. It is divided by double ribs that converge in the elegant lantern.
cupola

 

 

 

 

 

The city within the city

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

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

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The city palace

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 Church of St. Francis

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The works in the church

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The new roads of the city

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

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

A unifying project for the city of Catania

A heritage of votive works

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

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

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

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

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The eagle-shaped city

The Palazzo dei due mori

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A story of rebirth

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The interior and works of art

Luminous sacred spaces

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The expansion of space and changing reality

The Church of St. Paul

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

Religious architecture

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The Church of St. Benedict

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The articulated interior spaces

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The church and the monastery

A stone garden

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The casket of austerity under the great dome

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

Art in the cathedral

The two churches

The Franciscan convent

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

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

The church and the college

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The Staircase of Angels

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The Benedictines’ library

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

One city, three sites

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

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

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

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

City and nature

The interior of the church: space and colour

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The art of maiolica

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The palace, the town, the church

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

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

Altars, saints and sculptural works

A casket of precious works

St. Agatha and the candelore