Catania

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

One of the most evocative rooms of the monastery is the kitchen.
foto cucina della portaLike the refectory, antirefectory, library and museum, the space dedicated to preparing food was designed by Giovan Battista Vaccarini and its construction began in 1739.
foto cucina dei benedettiniThe architect had to take into account the rules of monastic architecture, which meant separating the kitchen from the other rooms. This way, if there was a fire, it would not spread to the other rooms.
Similarly, the passageways leading to the refectory as well as being narrow were equipped with multiple barriers.
The kitchen underwent various changes over the years, but the structure has remained the same with the hearths in the centre, a huge brazier placed in an octagonal “chamber”.
The maiolica decorations that enrich the structure create splendid orange and blue squares with a white background of abstract motifs. The floor is just as surprising. Also made with colourful maiolica tiles, it extends across the whole room. However, the floor is not simple or uniform; it is divided into eight parts with two different alternating decorations.
The first is a white floor with fine blue, black and yellow geometric decorations that cover the smaller portions; the other is larger and more colourful, where yellow and green dominate the blue, orange and white decoration. foto Dettaglio maioliche

The theatre of taste

The interior and its masterpieces

The Baroque town by the sea

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

The Burgos crucifix

A small room with a golden entrance

A square as the heart of the city

Some prestigious works

The internal colours

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A new site for a new church

Many owners, one palace

A hall for the feasts

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

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

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Prominent façade

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

A new site for a new city

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Searching for colour

A long reconstruction

Some masterpieces

Connections with other UNESCO sites

A colourful floor

Feast days

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A symbol for the town

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The church of Carmine

Norman apses

A city in colour

A prominent church

From International Gothic to present day

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

Wonderful quick decorations

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Modica, a city with ancient origins

A miniature city

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The disastrous earthquake

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

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

A triumph of colour

The Maiolica of the staircase

Two illustrious patron saints

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A feast only for Scicli

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

One city, three sites

The wall comes to life

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

An eagle-shaped city

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

The Staircase of Angels

A museum to save a tradition

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

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

New roads for Catania

A majestic and luminous church

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A half-Baroque church

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

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Feasting in Palazzolo

The chocolate of Modica

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The city of museums

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

A talking palace

The colours of the cathedral

One city, two sites

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

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

The two churches

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Discovering the mother church

Between white and black