Catania

A story of rebirth

Piazza Duomo is one of the most important squares in Catania. In a few dozen metres, this location houses priceless artistic and architectural heritage.
The Cathedral of Sant'Agata is one of the buildings on the square, an area that has always been brimming with life. After the 18th-century reconstruction, the cathedral played the role of a scenic backdrop, without neglecting its important function as backdrop to the modern Via Ferdinandea (now Via Garibaldi) located in line with the church.
foto d'insieme facciata dalla piazza con elefante
The Cathedral’s history began with the Norman King Roger I of Sicily, who built it using the foundations of the Achilliane Roman baths, where the saint was martyred in 251 AD.
Completed in 1094, the Norman cathedral had a Latin cross plan with three naves and three apses and elements that led to a fortified church with two watchtowers.
The sovereigns who ascended to the throne over the centuries changed the appearance of the church, where the remains of St. Agatha were moved in 1376. Between the end of the 1500s and 1693, the bishops had the vaults decorated and raised the floor level to insert a large wooden choir.
The apses were then modified and the Roman painter Giovanni Battista Corradini painted the upper part of the semi-dome with “Il trionfo di Sant’Agata, incoronata da Cristo e Maria” (The Triumph of St. Agatha, Crowned by Christ and Mary), while the decorations of the Saint’s chapel were carried out in 1684 by the Catanese painter Paolo Mignemi.
zoom cupola abside chiesa di sant'Agata

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

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

The church and the monastery

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

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

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

A stone garden

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

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

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

The Church of St. Paul

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The eagle-shaped city

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The works in the church

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

St. Agatha and the candelore

The expansion of space and changing reality

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

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

The interior of the church: space and colour

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

City and nature

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

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

One city, three sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

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

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

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

Luminous sacred spaces

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

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

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The Church of St. Benedict

The art of maiolica

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

A casket of precious works

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The Benedictines’ library

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The Church of St. Francis

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The Franciscan convent

The church and the college

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

Art in the cathedral

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The new roads of the city

A heritage of votive works

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

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The palace, the town, the church

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

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The Palazzo dei due mori

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The city within the city

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

The articulated interior spaces

Religious architecture

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The Staircase of Angels

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

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

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The two churches

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

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

The interior and works of art

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

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

The city palace

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

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

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

A story of rebirth