Palazzolo Acreide

Feasting in Palazzolo

In Palazzolo Acreide St. Sebastian is so highly revered that there are two feasts!
The first celebration takes place on the 20th of January, the official day, and the other on the 10th of August. The summer feast is not only important from the religious point of view, but is enriched and completed with a series of activities and performances involving a large number of people.
The choice of date was not at all accidental; first of all it, it meant certain good weather and secondly, it coincided with the wheat harvest.
In addition, following the great migration north and overseas, the summer period was also the time when many Sicilians returned home for their holidays.
Therefore, once the day was decided, all that was left to do was to begin the festivities, which last ten days, from 8th to 17th August, and retrace the traditional rites and functions with musical performances, exhibitions and all kinds of events.
The 10th of August is clearly the more important day. It is the day of the “sciuta”, when the Saint and relics are taken from the churches carried on people’s shoulders as small firecrackers and thousands of “nsareddi”, 2-metre-long multi-coloured paper strips are thrown.
The marching band and fireworks are also not to be missed.
Festa di San SebastianoIt is a feast where the entire country comes to a standstill and the enthusiastic community participates in the celebrations.

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

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

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A small room with a golden entrance

Norman apses

The wall comes to life

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

A hall for the feasts

From International Gothic to present day

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

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

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

A museum to save a tradition

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Some masterpieces

A half-Baroque church

Two illustrious patron saints

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

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

The Maiolica of the staircase

Feasting in Palazzolo

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Wonderful quick decorations

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The Baroque town by the sea

The Burgos crucifix

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

One city, three sites

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

A talking palace

A majestic and luminous church

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

An eagle-shaped city

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

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

Feast days

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The chocolate of Modica

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

A triumph of colour

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A miniature city

The disastrous earthquake

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Many owners, one palace

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A prominent church

A feast only for Scicli

Discovering the mother church

New roads for Catania

The theatre of taste

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

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

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The internal colours

The Staircase of Angels

The city of museums

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

One city, two sites

A city in colour

Searching for colour

Some prestigious works

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A long reconstruction

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

A square as the heart of the city

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Modica, a city with ancient origins

A new site for a new church

The interior and its masterpieces

The two churches

The church of Carmine

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

The colours of the cathedral

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Between white and black

A colourful floor

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Prominent façade

A symbol for the town

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

A new site for a new city