Noto

A stone garden

Built over half a century by the best architects, stonemasons and master builders, the city of Noto is a harmonious ensemble of homogeneous colours, a Baroque city assembled by volumes, lines and perspectives, defined by UNESCO as “representing the culmination and final flowering of Baroque art in Europe”. The intervention of the architect Angelo Italia was fundamental in organising the city space in that with the creation of splendid scenographic effects, he transformed squares and streets into stages and theatre flats.
The element that makes this city so magnificent and harmonious is the use of local white limestone, which, with the passing of time and the effect of the sun, has been tinged with golden and pink shades, made even more vivid by the light of sunset that rests on the corbels, capitals, friezes and columns. It was called “the stone garden” by the famous restoration expert Cesare Brandi .

The choice of white limestone as the main element in the reconstruction of the city of Noto was dictated by the quarries surrounding the area, which facilitated its extraction and transport to the city.
Limestone is also soft and easy to work, and so it is still used by stonemasons and craftspeople to create imaginative and complex shapes today. This said, at the same time, it is a fragile and delicate stone that requires constant care and restoration.

The new roads of the city

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The Church of St. Francis

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

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

The articulated interior spaces

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The expansion of space and changing reality

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The art of maiolica

The casket of austerity under the great dome

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

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

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

City and nature

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

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

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

The eagle-shaped city

The palace, the town, the church

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A story of rebirth

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The interior of the church: space and colour

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

The Church of St. Benedict

The church and the college

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The city within the city

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

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The Staircase of Angels

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The Franciscan convent

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

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

Religious architecture

The church and the monastery

The two churches

The city palace

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

Luminous sacred spaces

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The Palazzo dei due mori

St. Agatha and the candelore

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

Art in the cathedral

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The Church of St. Paul

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

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

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

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

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

A casket of precious works

The Benedictines’ library

One city, three sites

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The interior and works of art

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

A heritage of votive works

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

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

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

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

The works in the church

A stone garden

The Church of Madonna della Stella

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

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