Palazzolo Acreide

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

In this lush territory rich in springs and watercourses, the Corinthians of Syracuse founded their first colony between 664 and 663 BC, which was named Akrai.
It was a fortress city for military and political control over the Sicels of the Hyblaean plateau.
As testified by literary sources, Akrai’s history is closely linked to that of Syracuse. Plutarch tells us that Dion stopped there in 357 BC on his march to Syracuse.
The colony is mentioned in the peace treaty between Rome and Syracuse of 263 BC at the beginning of the First Punic War. This period coincided with the height of the city’s splendour. In 214 BC, Hippocrates was hosted there after being defeated in the clash with the Romans. For Sicily, the period of Roman rule was generally a period of decadence, but this was not the case for Akrai.
This was when the city began to mint its own coins and assumed some economic importance in the region.

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The Staircase of Angels

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

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

The Church of St. Paul

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

A story of rebirth

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

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

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The interior of the church: space and colour

St. Agatha and the candelore

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Altars, saints and sculptural works

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

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

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

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

A stone garden

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The palace, the town, the church

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The city palace

The articulated interior spaces

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The interior and works of art

The Franciscan convent

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Church of St. Benedict

The Benedictines’ library

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Reconstruction after the earthquake

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The expansion of space and changing reality

Luminous sacred spaces

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The Church of Madonna della Stella

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

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The new roads of the city

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

Religious architecture

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

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

One city, three sites

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

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

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

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The Church of St. Francis

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The city within the city

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A heritage of votive works

The works in the church

The casket of austerity under the great dome

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

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

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

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

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

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

Art in the cathedral

The church and the college

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The art of maiolica

The eagle-shaped city

A unifying project for the city of Catania

A casket of precious works

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

The two churches

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The Palazzo dei due mori

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

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

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

City and nature

The church and the monastery