Catania

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

The original site of the monastery was near the hill of Santa Sophia, outside the city walls, but in the 13th century the nuns moved into the city in the Civita district and founded the cloistered monastery dedicated to St. Julian.
After the terrible earthquake of 1693, the complex was razed to the ground and the Duke of Camastra was assigned the task of designing the city’s new urban plan, which envisaged rebuilding the monastic building in the same place. This fact caused the nuns great distress because, after the great earthquake, the route of the saint’s procession changed and they could no longer watch the passage of St. Agatha and her worshippers.
Consequently, the nuns, who came mostly from noble families in Catania, decided to move to a better area. In 1698 they moved to Via dei Crociferi.
They swapped the old Benedictine monastery for the Ospedale San Marco (St. Mark’s Hospital), modifying the buildings and beginning to build their new monastery, finally conquering an excellent view of the procession of St. Agatha that passed by Via San Giuliano then turned on to Via dei Crociferi.

One city, three sites

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The city palace

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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

The Church of Madonna della Stella

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

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The interior and works of art

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

The Franciscan convent

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The Palazzo dei due mori

The articulated interior spaces

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

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

The new roads of the city

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The Church of St. Benedict

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

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

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

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

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

A stone garden

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

The works in the church

The church and the college

The Church of St. Paul

The interior of the church: space and colour

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

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

The Benedictines’ library

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

Reconstruction after the earthquake

Religious architecture

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

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

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The eagle-shaped city

The city within the city

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The Staircase of Angels

The Church of St. Francis

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

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

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The church and the monastery

Luminous sacred spaces

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

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

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

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The palace, the town, the church

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

A casket of precious works

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The expansion of space and changing reality

A heritage of votive works

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

St. Agatha and the candelore

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

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

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

The art of maiolica

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Art in the cathedral

A story of rebirth

City and nature

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The two churches

Altars, saints and sculptural works

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family