Militello in Val di Catania

Discovering the mother church

foto scalinataThe entrance to the chiesa madre di San Nicolò e del Santissimo Salvatore (Mother Church of St. Nicholas and the Holy Saviour) is above street level and is accessed by two lateral staircases.
The façade is divided horizontally into three levels.
The first level includes the large central portal, inserted between two pairs of columns and closed off at the top by a tympanum with a broken arch. The two side doors, named “the sun” and “the moon”, are each surmounted by a window. The second level has a large window with a triangular tympanum. The third level is a broken arch tympanum that completes the façade, at the top of which there is a cross supported by a cherub ‘s head.
foto portaleAs for the internal structure of the church, it has a Latin cross plan, is divided into three naves and has five chapels on each side.
The decoration of the walls is simple and elegant; white is the predominant colour.
The frescoes in the vault and apse are the only aspects to break up the white. In 1950, Professor Giuseppe Barone painted and depicted scenes from the lives of St. Nicholas and the Holy Saviour.
foto interno chiesa ingresso altare navata centrale affreschi
The brightness is mainly given by the natural light from the windows under the trabeation that illuminate the entire nave.The area below the dome is also splendid, illuminated by a divine light from above.

Zoom la navata centrale
la navata centrale

The simple, white walls are contrasted by a floor that is anything but simple.
Made of grey and white Carrara marble, the precious material was laid in a chequered pattern.
foto della cupola dal basso
foto zoom pavimento

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A square as the heart of the city

A museum to save a tradition

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A triumph of colour

The internal colours

The senses tell the Mother Church of San Nicolò and of the Santissimo Salvatore

Wonderful quick decorations

A small room with a golden entrance

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

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

A city in colour

The chocolate of Modica

Feasting in Palazzolo

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The theatre of taste

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

From International Gothic to present day

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The senses tell the Benedictine Monastery and San NicoIò l’Arena

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giovanni Battista

Many owners, one palace

Some prestigious works

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

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A hall for the feasts

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Prominent façade

The wall comes to life

The interior and its masterpieces

The city of museums

A new site for a new church

A miniature city

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The church of Carmine

One city, three sites

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The colours of the cathedral

An eagle-shaped city

The two churches

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Church of San Giuliano (St. Julian) on Via dei Crociferi: reconstruction

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

The Baroque town by the sea

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Searching for colour

Discovering the mother church

New roads for Catania

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The senses tell the story of the church of Santa Maria del Carmelo

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The disastrous earthquake

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A new site for a new city

A symbol for the town

The Maiolica of the staircase

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Between white and black

Limestone, the colour of harmony

From the contrast of the exterior to the internal jubilation of colours

A colourful floor

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

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

One city, two sites

Two illustrious patron saints

Feast days

A talking palace

A prominent church

A half-Baroque church

Freedom of worship and the role of the Catholic Church in the diffusion of Baroque

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A long reconstruction

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Norman apses

The Burgos crucifix

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

A majestic and luminous church

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Some masterpieces

The role of the religious orders in rebuilding the Val di Noto

The Staircase of Angels