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.

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The Franciscan convent

Altars, saints and sculptural works

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

St. Agatha and the candelore

Art in the cathedral

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The palace, the town, the church

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A casket of precious works

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

Luminous sacred spaces

Reconstruction after the earthquake

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The interior and works of art

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

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

The two churches

The city within the city

The eagle-shaped city

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

City and nature

A story of rebirth

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The church and the college

A heritage of votive works

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The art of maiolica

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

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The Palazzo dei due mori

The church and the monastery

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

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

The Church of St. Benedict

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

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

A unifying project for the city of Catania

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The new roads of the city

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The city palace

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

The Staircase of Angels

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

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

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

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

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

Religious architecture

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

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

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

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

The expansion of space and changing reality

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The Church of St. Paul

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The Church of St. Francis

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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

The interior of the church: space and colour

The Benedictines’ library

One city, three sites

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The articulated interior spaces

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A stone garden

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The works in the church

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