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 story of the Church of San Giuliano ai Crociferi

The Church of Madonna della Stella

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

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The city palace

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

Altars, saints and sculptural works

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

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

A unifying project for the city of Catania

One city, three sites

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

A story of rebirth

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The Church of St. Benedict

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

A casket of precious works

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Palazzo dei due mori

The new roads of the city

Religious architecture

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

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

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

The church and the monastery

The Franciscan convent

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

Art in the cathedral

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Luminous sacred spaces

The palace, the town, the church

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The Church of St. Paul

St. Agatha and the candelore

The articulated interior spaces

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

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

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

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The Benedictines’ library

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The interior of the church: space and colour

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

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

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

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The expansion of space and changing reality

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The interior and works of art

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The Staircase of Angels

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

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

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

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

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The art of maiolica

The Church of St. Francis

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

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

A heritage of votive works

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The city within the city

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

City and nature

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The works in the church

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The eagle-shaped city

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

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

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

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The church and the college

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

A stone garden

The two churches

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria