The aedicula is an architectural structure that can be small or large in size. Depending on its size it can be an autonomous structure or rest on a supporting structure. It consists of columns or small pillars and is surmounted by a pediment. These elements act as a frame for the sacred images t...

Giovanni Gianforma was a Palermo-born who settled in Ispica around 1740 and was active between 1740 and 1770 throughout the Hyblaean area. He was trained in the school of Giacomo Serpotta, the most important stucco worker of the Sicilian 18th century, proposing classicist models within a late Baroq...

A half column is a decorative element made with a column cut lengthways that protrudes from the wall. Fluting is a semi-cylindrical recess that runs vertically along a column and has an ornamental function....

The top element of the column, the capital, can be one of three types belonging to the respective architectural orders: Doric, Ionic or Corinthian. An Ionic capital has two volutes, whose centre, which may have various types of decoration, is called the "eye". It takes its name from the Ionians, a ...

The town hall of Scicli, located in the historic centre of the Baroque town, is the main setting for the famous television series "Inspector Montalbano". In the story based on novels by Andrea Camilleri, the town hall takes the name of the Vigàta Commissariat....

Elio Vittorini, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, was born in Syracuse in 1908. His last work "Le città del mondo" (The Cities of the World) from 1952-55, a novel that unfortunately remained unfinished, describes Scicli: "The town of Scicli stands at the crossroads of three valley...

The county was founded on 25 March 1296 when Frederick III of Sicily gifted it to Manfredi Chiaramonte for the courage he showed in the war against the Angevins and King James. It was a vast territory that included the city of Modica, Ragusa, Scicli, Vittoria, Monterosso, Pozzallo, Chiaramonte, Alca...

The centre of the apse was once illuminated by a spectacular glass chandelier made by the famous glassblowers of Murano. The chandelier was destroyed during its first journey to the church. The boat carrying it crashed into the rocks and sank together with the 600 kilograms of chandelier glass....

Pietra pece is a particular type of rock used in the architectural context of the Hyblaean Baroque, mainly as a building material in the construction of palaces and churches. Also called pietra-oro (gold-stone), pietra pece is a chalky sedimentary rock that dates back to the Cenozoic Era. Its black...

An intrados is the surface visible inside the vault. More generally, it indicates the underside of the depth of a structure. It is also called an "imbotto" or "ventre"....