Modica

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Among period buildings, cathedrals and churches, Modica offers its citizens and tourists a place of memory. The idea comes from the bond that exists between the Hyblaean city and an illustrious Italian poet. On 20 August 1901, Salvatore Quasimodo was born in Modica.
Palazzo QuasimodoHe was one of the most important poets and translators of Italian literature.
Quasimodo wrote works of enormous value that led him to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1959. Hence the idea to restore the house where the poet was born and turn it into a birthplace museum dedicated to him.
The Museo Casa Natale Salvatore Quasimodo (Salvatore Quasimodo Birthplace Museum) offers the chance to see the room where the Italian poet saw the first light of day, and much more!
In fact, there are also collections of many of the objects that belonged to Salvatore Quasimodo, including some photographs and the furniture from his Milan studio.
This is an opportunity to get to know Quasimodo and enter into contact with the reality of a bygone era that is increasingly distant from us.

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The interior of the church: space and colour

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

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The city palace

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The eagle-shaped city

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

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The Staircase of Angels

St. Agatha and the candelore

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

A heritage of votive works

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The new roads of the city

The articulated interior spaces

A stone garden

The Franciscan convent

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The Church of St. Benedict

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The city within the city

The expansion of space and changing reality

The Church of Madonna della Stella

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The Church of St. Francis

One city, three sites

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

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

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

Art in the cathedral

City and nature

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

A casket of precious works

The Benedictines’ library

The art of maiolica

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

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

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The Palazzo dei due mori

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The two churches

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The casket of austerity under the great dome

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

Altars, saints and sculptural works

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

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

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

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

Religious architecture

The works in the church

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Luminous sacred spaces

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The palace, the town, the church

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

The church and the monastery

A story of rebirth

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

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The church and the college

The Church of St. Paul

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

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The interior and works of art

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

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro