Noto

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

touch
White limestone

The church of San Domenico, like most of the late Baroque architecture of Noto built after the earthquake of 1693, is made of limestone, which gives it great chromatic homogeneity. The white stone is tinged with warm hues at sunset, offering a spectacle of unique beauty.

hearing
A place of silence: the crypt of the Dominican friars

The crypt of the church of San Domenico is where the Dominican friars were taken when they died.
This is one of the main places of silence in the church, a small space characterised by few elements such as an altar and closed arcades.
It is interesting to note the stark contrast between the bare and essential architectural structure of the crypt and the grandeur of the church’s spaces.

sight
The colourful scenographic elements

The interior of the church of San Domenico is characterised by an entirely white environment, with very high walls decorated with bright stuccoes that give the setting a solemn and scenic appearance.
However, there are some elements that stand out from all the whiteness, including the majestic main altar and the gilded wooden ciborium made by Antonio Basile.
The former is embellished with red and white marble and the latter, made with a wonderful curvilinear structure, encloses the Virgin and Child.

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The city palace

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

Altars, saints and sculptural works

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The two churches

The Church of St. Francis

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

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

St. Agatha and the candelore

The church and the monastery

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

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

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

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

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

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

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

The Staircase of Angels

The interior and works of art

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A casket of precious works

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

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

City and nature

A stone garden

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The articulated interior spaces

The Church of St. Benedict

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The casket of austerity under the great dome

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

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

The Church of St. Paul

A heritage of votive works

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The expansion of space and changing reality

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The church and the college

Art in the cathedral

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

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

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

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

A story of rebirth

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Franciscan convent

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

The Palazzo dei due mori

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The interior of the church: space and colour

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

Religious architecture

The Benedictines’ library

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

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

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

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The art of maiolica

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The city within the city

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The palace, the town, the church

The eagle-shaped city

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The new roads of the city

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The works in the church

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

One city, three sites

Luminous sacred spaces

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

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

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

Baroque creativity: recurring themes