Catania

The Staircase of Angels

The most famous architectural element of the entire monastic complex is the Scala degli Angeli (staircase of the angels). The majestic main entrance leading into the church was completed in 1712 and is a characteristic example of Sicilian Baroque.
The staircase of the angels, so called because of the sculptures depicting the heavenly creatures, is made of marble stucco, a less valuable material than marble but one cleverly used to highlight the opulence of the church.
For this reason, everything outside the entrance portal of the church had to be less valuable, so as not to distract the worshippers from their prayers. With its convexity, concavity, stucco and ellipses, the staircase reflects the dynamics of Baroque architecture.
It was built to connect the church floor to street level, which was seven metres lower.
The floor composed of two-tone marble slabs is very old and stylistically in contrast to the exuberant Baroque staircase. The portal, by an unknown artist, dates back to 1708. It is entirely carved in wood, with 8 panels depicting scenes from the life of St. Benedict.

Religious architecture

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The Benedictines’ library

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

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

Luminous sacred spaces

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

The interior and works of art

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The expansion of space and changing reality

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The articulated interior spaces

The new roads of the city

The city within the city

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

One city, three sites

The two churches

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The church and the monastery

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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

The city palace

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The Church of St. Benedict

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

A stone garden

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

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

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

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

A heritage of votive works

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

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

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

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

A story of rebirth

St. Agatha and the candelore

The Staircase of Angels

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

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

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

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The Palazzo dei due mori

Altars, saints and sculptural works

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

City and nature

The eagle-shaped city

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The works in the church

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

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

The interior of the church: space and colour

The Church of St. Francis

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The palace, the town, the church

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

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

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The Franciscan convent

The church and the college

Art in the cathedral

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The Church of St. Paul

The Church of Madonna della Stella

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

A casket of precious works

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

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

Reconstruction after the earthquake

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

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The art of maiolica

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception