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 eagle-shaped city

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

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A casket of precious works

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

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

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The Church of St. Benedict

The Church of St. Francis

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

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

The Staircase of Angels

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The city within the city

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

Art in the cathedral

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The Palazzo dei due mori

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The Church of Madonna della Stella

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

The city palace

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

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

The articulated interior spaces

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

Luminous sacred spaces

The church and the college

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

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

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

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The interior of the church: space and colour

The art of maiolica

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The Franciscan convent

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The new roads of the city

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

A story of rebirth

Religious architecture

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The interior and works of art

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

The palace, the town, the church

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

Reconstruction after the earthquake

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

St. Agatha and the candelore

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

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

City and nature

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The works in the church

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

A stone garden

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The Benedictines’ library

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

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

One city, three sites

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The two churches

A unifying project for the city of Catania

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

The expansion of space and changing reality

A heritage of votive works

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

The Church of St. Paul

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The church and the monastery