Militello in Val di Catania

A new site for a new church

The chiesa madre di San Nicolò e del Santissimo Salvatore (Mother Church of St. Nicholas and the Holy Saviour) is located on the corner of Via Umberto I and Via Matrice.
It is the result of a long and complex reconstruction following the earthquake of 1693.
Three years after the earthquake the Bishop of Syracuse, on a visit to Militello, ordered the construction of the new church and it was here that problems began. The citizens were divided between those who wanted to rebuild the church in the same place and those who wanted to rebuild it on a safer site; it took 28 years before a definitive location was found.
The foundation stone was laid on 6 December 1721 at the new site, where the present church is located today.
At this point, the reconstruction work was fairly quick: on 20 March 1740, when the church was blessed, the central and lateral naves were almost complete; around 1750, the façade designed by the architect Girolamo Palazzotto was finished; in 1765, the bell tower designed by the architect Francesco Battaglia , from Catania was added, which was joined by the bells and clock eleven years later.
The bell tower on the right was the only one built, thus breaking up the symmetry of the façade. The church was built with the help of many benefactors including the Marquis Nicolò Placido Branciforte and the Abbot Malacria.

The church of San Nicolò and the Most Holy Saviour
The church of San Nicolò and the Most Holy Saviour has an elevated entrance with respect to the road level and can be reached through two side staircases that have twenty-seven steps. The facade is divided horizontally into three levels: the first includes the large central portal, inserted between two pairs of columns and which is closed over by a broken arched tympanum; the two side doors, called “of the sun” and “of the moon”, are surmounted by a window; the second order has in the center a large window with a triangular tympanum on top; the third order, finally, closes the structure, has the shape of a broken arched tympanum and on the top there is a cross supported by a head of cherub. On the right side of the facade is the only bell tower, the left one was not built and the symmetry of the facade is broken.
San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Searching for colour

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A square as the heart of the city

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A miniature city

A city in colour

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The Staircase of Angels

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

One city, three sites

Feast days

Discovering the mother church

Many owners, one palace

The colours of the cathedral

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

A new site for a new church

A triumph of colour

Feasting in Palazzolo

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Between white and black

A half-Baroque church

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

An eagle-shaped city

A majestic and luminous church

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

A colourful floor

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

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The disastrous earthquake

A long reconstruction

The theatre of taste

The chocolate of Modica

The wall comes to life

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

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

Prominent façade

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

Some prestigious works

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The façade used as a puppet theatre

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 Benedictine Monastery and San NicoIò l’Arena

A prominent church

Wonderful quick decorations

A new site for a new city

A museum to save a tradition

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Some masterpieces

A hall for the feasts

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

A small room with a golden entrance

The church of Carmine

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

From International Gothic to present day

A feast only for Scicli

The interior and its masterpieces

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

A symbol for the town

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The internal colours

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A talking palace

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The Baroque town by the sea

Norman apses

Two illustrious patron saints

The Maiolica of the staircase

The two churches

The city of museums

One city, two sites

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

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

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

New roads for Catania

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The Burgos crucifix

Limestone, the colour of harmony

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