Catania

The new roads of the city

The reconstruction and reorganisation of the streets of Catania was based on some rules including the standard width of around 16, 12 or 8 metres, depending on whether they were main or secondary roads, and a geometric model set on a grid that was not rigidly orthogonal ), but conducted by four main road axes.
These axes were Via Etnea, Via San Giuliano, Via Vittorio Emanuele and Via Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Via Etnea was designed to create a long, straight road starting from Piazza Duomo and crossing with Via San Giuliano. To date, it still connects the Montevergine district to the sea, intersecting with it to form the scenic crossroads of the “ Quattro Canti ” square.
San Giuliano
The other two road axes built, Via Vittorio Emanuele and Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, today link Piazza Duomo, the heart of the city, to the old city.
via Vittorio Emanuele via Garibaldi piazza Duomo
Another fundamental axis, though smaller in size, is Via dei Crociferi, a road just over one hundred metres long where Catania’s most representative Baroque examples of churches and convents were built. Work to reorganise the roads was led by labourers from Calabria and around Etna, who were experts in the removal of lava stone blocks.
The new road layout brought great advantages to the city of Catania, not only for the beauty of the new architecture, but also because it facilitated connections and allowed for large, scenic and dynamic spaces to be created where citizens could find safe refuge in the event of an earthquake.

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The Franciscan convent

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The expansion of space and changing reality

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

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The church and the monastery

The interior of the church: space and colour

A stone garden

Altars, saints and sculptural works

Reconstruction after the earthquake

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

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

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

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

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

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The city within the city

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The works in the church

The Church of St. Benedict

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The articulated interior spaces

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

City and nature

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

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

Art in the cathedral

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

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

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

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

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

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

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

A heritage of votive works

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

Religious architecture

A casket of precious works

The city palace

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

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The new roads of the city

The art of maiolica

Luminous sacred spaces

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

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

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The Church of St. Francis

The Palazzo dei due mori

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

The two churches

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The Church of St. Paul

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

A unifying project for the city of Catania

A story of rebirth

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

One city, three sites

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

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The eagle-shaped city

The palace, the town, the church

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The interior and works of art

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The Benedictines’ library

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

St. Agatha and the candelore

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

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

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

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

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

The church and the college

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The Staircase of Angels

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi