Modica

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

inquadrando giardini pensiliAs you ascend the elegant staircase you are surrounded by a hanging garden named the Orto del Piombo (Garden of Lead): a unique setting that welcomes the visitor before coming to the church, similar to the Trinità dei Monti in Rome.
The five Rococo portals suggest the presence of five naves which terminate with three apses after the transept .
Characterised by a central tower, the façade is marked by powerful columns that divide it into five bays , in the first order, where concave and convex forms alternate like stone waves , which add movement to the massive structure.dett parte ondulata dei 5 ingressi con portaliThe thrust effect of the second and third levels is enhanced by the concentration of three columns on each side in the central part, the increasingly sober decorations and the openings of the belfries.
interior of the church, dedicated to the martyrs St. George and Hippolytus, rouses a sense of wonder and grandeur. The five naves that distribute the spaces are delimited by powerful arcades that rest on 22 columns, surmounted by Corinthian capitals .
interno frontale verso abside  meridiana
Enriched by gilding on a celestial background, the capitals increase the mystical atmosphere that joins the scenic dramatics of the light that accompanies the gaze to the transept’s intersection, where the majestic central dome stands 36 metres tall.
On the floor, opposite the main altar, the passing of time is marked by the discreet presence of an elliptical sundial, which was designed in 1895 by the mathematician Armando Pierini. It marks midday as the ray of light enters the hole of the gnomon .
A plaque on the far left of the sundial indicates the geographical coordinates of the church.
  gnomone 

 

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The expansion of space and changing reality

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

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

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

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The Staircase of Angels

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The Franciscan convent

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

The Benedictines’ library

St. Agatha and the candelore

One city, three sites

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The art of maiolica

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The Church of St. Benedict

A casket of precious works

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

City and nature

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

A stone garden

The Church of St. Francis

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The two churches

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

A story of rebirth

The eagle-shaped city

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The palace, the town, the church

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

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

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The Palazzo dei due mori

The city palace

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The church and the college

The works in the church

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The interior of the church: space and colour

The new roads of the city

A heritage of votive works

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

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

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

The church and the monastery

The articulated interior spaces

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

Religious architecture

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

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

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The Church of St. Paul

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

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

The casket of austerity under the great dome

A unifying project for the city of Catania

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The city within the city

Art in the cathedral

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

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

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

The interior and works of art

Luminous sacred spaces

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

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

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion