Caltagirone

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

smell
The rusedda of the potters

Fiore di cisto marinoRusedda is the dialectal name of the fragrant cistus salvifolius plant, which was once used and much sought after by ceramists to burn in their kilns.
The cistus plants were gathered from the nearby San Pietro forest and carried by pack animals to the Conadomini church during the celebrations of the Madonna

hearing
The sombre sounds of the brogne

During the celebrations of the Madonna dei Conadomini the procession is accompanied by the sombre sound of brogne, large seashells used as musical instruments.
The strong contrast between the explosion of colour in the decorated floats and infiorata of the Staircase and the sombre sound of these natural instruments enhances the solemnity of the moment on the route to the Mother Church.

sight
The intense colours of the Madonna dei Conadomini

It is impossible not to be struck by the intensity of the colours that resonate within this work. From the wooden panel’s golden damask background, typical of the period, to the shadows around the sacred faces, not to mention the tender contact of the cheeks of the mother and her son.
If we focus on Mary’s blue starry cloak, a symbol of humanity and virginity, we cannot tear our gaze away from her extraordinarily large and dark hands, a symbol of strength and industriousness, or from Jesus’ red cloak, a symbol of divinity, with the recurring theme of the six-petal rosette.

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The Staircase of Angels

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

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

A casket of precious works

The eagle-shaped city

Luminous sacred spaces

The city palace

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A story of rebirth

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

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The interior of the church: space and colour

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

A stone garden

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

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

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

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The Palazzo dei due mori

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The Church of St. Francis

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

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

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

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

The Church of St. Benedict

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The city within the city

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The church and the college

A heritage of votive works

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

St. Agatha and the candelore

A unifying project for the city of Catania

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

Religious architecture

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The Benedictines’ library

The interior and works of art

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

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

The art of maiolica

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

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

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

Art in the cathedral

City and nature

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

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

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

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

The works in the church

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The palace, the town, the church

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The articulated interior spaces

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

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

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The Church of St. Paul

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

One city, three sites

The church and the monastery

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

The Franciscan convent

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The two churches

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The expansion of space and changing reality

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

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

The new roads of the city

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

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

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico