Introduction to Val di Noto

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

In a report about the earthquake of 11 January 1693 the Bishop of Syracuse described a dramatic sight: “The sun obscured, the air, blackened and turbid, like the dark and bleeding clouds, and the dense dust from the buildings that was exhaled after the structures fell.”
According to the chroniclers, the atmosphere seemed suspended in a seemingly endless succession of earthquake tremors. The catastrophe took place in the early afternoon of the 11th of January and left an indelible scar in the memory of the Sicilian land.
The inhabitants of the Val di Noto ran to different shelters according to their social status: the rich fled to their properties outside the walls, the poor made for the woods or makeshift shelters such as huts and haystacks.
The clergy had to abandon their convents to the point of breaking centuries-old rules, such as seclusion, creating the image of a society broken apart by dramatic circumstances.

A small room with a golden entrance

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

The façade used as a puppet theatre

From International Gothic to present day

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

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

A hall for the feasts

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

A prominent church

An eagle-shaped city

The chocolate of Modica

Feast days

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

The interior and its masterpieces

A half-Baroque church

The colours of the cathedral

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The two churches

A city in colour

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A miniature city

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The Staircase of Angels

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

A square as the heart of the city

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

The wall comes to life

Many owners, one palace

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

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Searching for colour

A talking palace

The Baroque town by the sea

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Some prestigious works

The Burgos crucifix

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A new site for a new church

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The theatre of taste

Prominent façade

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Discovering the mother church

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A symbol for the town

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

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

A long reconstruction

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

A museum to save a tradition

One city, two sites

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

New roads for Catania

One city, three sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The internal colours

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Modica, a city with ancient origins

A new site for a new city

Wonderful quick decorations

A triumph of colour

The city of museums

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Two illustrious patron saints

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

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

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

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A majestic and luminous church

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A colourful floor

Norman apses

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The Maiolica of the staircase

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Some masterpieces

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

Feasting in Palazzolo

The church of Carmine

Between white and black

The disastrous earthquake

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)