Introduction to Val di Noto

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Baroque is a particular cultural and artistic period that began in Rome in the early 17th century before spreading across Europe, in various forms, in the second half of the century. The negative connotation attributed to Baroque by 18th-century critics, who also coined the term, was aimed at artists who in their architecture and painting had moved away from the principles of harmony, beauty and functionality found in Renaissance culture.
The Enlightenment theorists and rationalists saw in the artistic experimentalism of the new aesthetic style bizarre, eccentric and fantastic elements in stark contrast with the harmony derived from the rigorous application of geometric and proportional principles used in the Renaissance. The 19th century brought a new appreciation for Baroque art and the end of its negative connotations. A more positive and diluted interpretation of the strong communicative position of Baroque spread from the end of the 19th century, a period that recognised the importance in art of a new perception of space, with its symbolic and scenographic force that was widely accepted by both aristocratic and less affluent classes.

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The works in the church

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

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

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

City and nature

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

The Franciscan convent

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

Luminous sacred spaces

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

St. Agatha and the candelore

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

A unifying project for the city of Catania

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Benedictines’ library

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

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

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

The Staircase of Angels

The interior of the church: space and colour

A heritage of votive works

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The Church of St. Benedict

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The eagle-shaped city

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The palace, the town, the church

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

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

Religious architecture

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The church and the monastery

The two churches

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The city within the city

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

A casket of precious works

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The new roads of the city

The Church of Madonna della Stella

Art in the cathedral

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The church and the college

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

The city palace

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

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

The art of maiolica

The interior and works of art

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

One city, three sites

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The articulated interior spaces

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

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The Church of St. Paul

A story of rebirth

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

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

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

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

A stone garden

The expansion of space and changing reality

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

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

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

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

The Palazzo dei due mori

The Church of St. Francis

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

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery