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.

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

A museum to save a tradition

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

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

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The Burgos crucifix

The Staircase of Angels

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

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

A small room with a golden entrance

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

One city, two sites

Some masterpieces

A colourful floor

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

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

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

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

New roads for Catania

Two illustrious patron saints

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

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A miniature city

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

A long reconstruction

The Maiolica of the staircase

The colours of the cathedral

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The disastrous earthquake

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A feast only for Scicli

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The internal colours

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Feast days

A prominent church

A talking palace

The theatre of taste

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The chocolate of Modica

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

Wonderful quick decorations

The wall comes to life

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A majestic and luminous church

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

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

A triumph of colour

One city, three sites

A new site for a new church

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

An eagle-shaped city

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Between white and black

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Searching for colour

Many owners, one palace

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Feasting in Palazzolo

The Baroque town by the sea

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The church of Carmine

A square as the heart of the city

The two churches

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Norman apses

A city in colour

A hall for the feasts

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A new site for a new city

Discovering the mother church

A half-Baroque church

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

A symbol for the town

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

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

The interior and its masterpieces

A Nobel Prize in Modica

From International Gothic to present day

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Prominent façade

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Some prestigious works

The city of museums