Caltagirone

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

This precious work was brought to Caltagirone by the noble Campochiaro family and donated to the Mother Church at the end of the 16th century.
The work consists of two painted sides, i.e. two icons or “cone“. During celebrations the work would be displayed showing the side of Christ, also called Dominus, hence the name Cona Domini. Whenever the city was struck by natural disasters or other evils, the side of the Virgin was shown so that worshippers could pray to her as they waited for a miracle. The masterpiece was so important and adored by the community that on 10 July 1644, she was declared patron saint of the city by public deed and was crowned with a golden crown on 31st May by Monsignor Luigi Bignami, the same day she is still celebrated today.
The Feast of the Madonna di Conadomini is celebrated in a particularly solemn way culminating in the offering of gifts from the earth following a large procession.
The procession is formed of farmers’ wagons and tractors decorated with rusedda, or bundles of cistus plant, accompanied by the sound of brogne, large seashells turned into sombre-sounding wind instruments.
Preceded by a banner called the triunfu with the sacred image of the Madonna di Conadomini, the procession climbs the 142 steps of the monumental and multicoloured Staircase of St. Mary of the Mountain, which is also coloured by the infiorata , as the city’s solemn and devout homage to its co-patron saint.

The church and the college

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

A heritage of votive works

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

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

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The Franciscan convent

One city, three sites

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The interior and works of art

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

City and nature

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The interior of the church: space and colour

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

The city within the city

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

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

A stone garden

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

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

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The Church of St. Benedict

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The Benedictines’ library

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The two churches

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The Church of St. Francis

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The Church of St. Paul

The casket of austerity under the great dome

A story of rebirth

The church and the monastery

Luminous sacred spaces

The articulated interior spaces

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

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

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

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

St. Agatha and the candelore

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

A casket of precious works

The Palazzo dei due mori

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

Art in the cathedral

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The palace, the town, the church

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

Reconstruction after the earthquake

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The eagle-shaped city

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

Altars, saints and sculptural works

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

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

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

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The Staircase of Angels

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

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The works in the church

The city palace

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

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

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

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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

Religious architecture

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The expansion of space and changing reality

The new roads of the city

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

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The art of maiolica