Catania

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The Benedictine Monastery is located on the hill of Montevergine and is one of the city’s largest complexes. Today it is still considered the second largest monastic complex in Europe.
A very long history marked by the passage of time (a testimony of which are the remains of the Roman domus, or house, with the remains of a mosaic floor), civilisations and natural disasters that have made it one of the most resilient and richest cultural sites on the entire island.
It was founded by the monks of Cassino in the 16th century, when the western cloister was constructed, with the large Carrara marble quatrefoil fountain completed in 1608, as well as most of the rooms used for monastery life including the kitchens, the basement cellars, the monks’ cells over two floors, the refectory and the parlour.
With the eruption of 1669, the monastery was hit by magma that surrounded the building’s walls and reached the first-storey windows. Traces of the lava flow are still visible along the retaining walls, which were built especially to divert it. In 1693 it was hit by the great earthquake and suffered serious damage.
The new monastery design included the construction of four large courtyards that would make it the largest in the world, but only two were completed, extending it by around 1450 square metres.
portale ingresso
The decision to increase the spaces allowed for the construction of the cloister of Levante where the eclectic and elegant Caffeaos was inserted.
The two external elevations, south and east, are late Baroque, marked by giant pilasters with diamond rustication and crowned with Corinthian capitals . There are windows and balconies adorned with a series of volutes, flowers, masks and nymphs.
Among these is the austere neoclassical portal of the main entrance, a late 18th-century modification.

 

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The expansion of space and changing reality

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

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

The church and the college

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

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

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

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

Luminous sacred spaces

The articulated interior spaces

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

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

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

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

A casket of precious works

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

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The Staircase of Angels

The art of maiolica

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

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

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

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

Religious architecture

The Church of St. Benedict

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

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

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

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

The casket of austerity under the great dome

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

The Franciscan convent

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The Benedictines’ library

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The interior and works of art

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The new roads of the city

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Reconstruction after the earthquake

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

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

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

The two churches

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The eagle-shaped city

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

City and nature

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The Church of St. Francis

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The Palazzo dei due mori

Art in the cathedral

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

One city, three sites

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A stone garden

The Church of Madonna della Stella

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The city palace

The church and the monastery

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

A story of rebirth

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The palace, the town, the church

The interior of the church: space and colour

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

St. Agatha and the candelore

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The works in the church

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A heritage of votive works

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The Church of St. Paul

The city within the city