Catania

Wonderful quick decorations

A strike of colour leaves you breathless as you enter the church of San Benedetto (St. Benedict) on Via dei Crociferi.
The paintings that decorate the interior have a timeless beauty.
The painter Giovanni Tuccari was commissioned to fresco the church. He completed the entire painting series in just three years (1726-1729). At the centre of the vault is the triumph of St. Benedict accompanied by his sister, St. Scholastica, and Pope Gregory I. At the sides, Tuccari completed the work and painted some scenes from the saint’s life: him welcoming St. Maurus and St. Placidus, two Benedictine saints, and on another, Totila, king of the Ostrogoths, a barbarian population, kneels before him.
To complete the decoration, there is a series of female figures above the windows, the allegories of virtues : the first is prudence, a woman depicted near a marble column, a symbol of fortress; followed by temperance, faith, hope and splendid charity, a woman nursing her own baby and two others.
The depictions are full of figures, so the spectator becomes part of the scene, overwhelmed by the events. This effect and ability to involve the observer is all down to the artist. Using a play on light and shadow, Giovanni Tuccari : bestows movement and vitality upon the scenes. At the same time this painting technique allowed him to work extremely quickly; he completed the work in just three years.

Discovering the mother church

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giovanni Battista

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The colours of the cathedral

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A new site for a new city

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

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

An eagle-shaped city

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

The Burgos crucifix

A long reconstruction

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Freedom of worship and the role of the Catholic Church in the diffusion of Baroque

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A prominent church

The interior and its masterpieces

The role of the religious orders in rebuilding the Val di Noto

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

One city, two sites

One city, three sites

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

Norman apses

The senses tell the Benedictine Monastery and San NicoIò l’Arena

New roads for Catania

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A miniature city

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Church of San Giuliano (St. Julian) on Via dei Crociferi: reconstruction

A half-Baroque church

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A hall for the feasts

The senses tell the Mother Church of San Nicolò and of the Santissimo Salvatore

Searching for colour

The city of museums

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The internal colours

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The Baroque town by the sea

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The senses tell the story of the church of Santa Maria del Carmelo

A feast only for Scicli

Prominent façade

Some masterpieces

The Staircase of Angels

A talking palace

The two churches

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A city in colour

Some prestigious works

Feast days

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Many owners, one palace

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A colourful floor

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

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

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The disastrous earthquake

A museum to save a tradition

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A square as the heart of the city

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A majestic and luminous church

Between white and black

From the contrast of the exterior to the internal jubilation of colours

A triumph of colour

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

From International Gothic to present day

A symbol for the town

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A new site for a new church

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The Maiolica of the staircase

The chocolate of Modica

The wall comes to life

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A small room with a golden entrance

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Feasting in Palazzolo

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The church of Carmine

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The theatre of taste

Wonderful quick decorations

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Two illustrious patron saints

The Barresi-Branciforte lords