Noto

The palace, the town, the church

Palazzo Ducezio
Palazzo Ducezio is located in the center of Noto in the Town Hall Square on one of the main roads right in front of the Cathedral located at the top of the staircase. It was named in honor of Ducezio, the founder of the city of Noto, and built between 1742 and 1761 by one of the major architects of the time: Vincenzo Sinatra. The building is very compact and has an elongated rectangular plan with no courtyard. It is formed by two overlapping floors but the original plan provided for a single-storey loggia with eleven arches on the main front characterized by a convexity in the central part, preceded by a semicircular staircase. The ground floor has, in fact, an elegant continuous portico on three sides with arches framed by Ionic columns. In 1950 it was crowned by an elevation with stone balustrade.

Palazzo Ducezio is located in the centre of Noto in Piazza del Municipio, on one of the main roads of the city’s urban grid.
It was named in honour of Ducezio , the founder of the city of Noto in the 5th century, and was built between 1742 and 1761 by one of the greatest architects of the time: Vincenzo Sinatra .
The building design included a single-storey loggia with eleven arcades on the main front characterised by a convexity in the central part, preceded by a semi-circular staircase.

foto fildi ferro griglia urbana
griglia urbana

The building is inserted into the design of the square and harmoniously interacts with the majestic staircase of the Cathedral. It was subsequently raised by one floor in 1951, to give more space to local administration offices.
With its very dilated shape, the Piazza del Municipio (Piazza XVI Maggio) is one of the most characteristic and celebrated examples of Sicilian Baroque and is a sequencing element within the town, used as a reference point by the other buildings.
The façade of Noto’s cathedral dominates the scene like a final backdrop at the top of the scenic staircase. The contraction and expansion of the spaces, the sudden changes of perspective of the minor side streets and the scenographic changes make this square an architecturally dynamic place of unparalleled beauty.

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A casket of precious works

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

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

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

A stone garden

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

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

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The articulated interior spaces

One city, three sites

Reconstruction after the earthquake

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

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

The Franciscan convent

St. Agatha and the candelore

The Church of St. Paul

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

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

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

Luminous sacred spaces

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

A heritage of votive works

The interior of the church: space and colour

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The city within the city

The art of maiolica

A story of rebirth

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The Church of St. Benedict

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The Staircase of Angels

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

The new roads of the city

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The Church of Madonna della Stella

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

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

The eagle-shaped city

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

Religious architecture

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

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

The two churches

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

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The Benedictines’ library

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Art in the cathedral

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The church and the college

The church and the monastery

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The Palazzo dei due mori

City and nature

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The works in the church

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

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

The Church of St. Francis

The city palace

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The casket of austerity under the great dome

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

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

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The palace, the town, the church

The interior and works of art

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The expansion of space and changing reality

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico