Modica

Many owners, one palace

foto palazzo salendo da via CalamenzanaPalazzo Tommasi Rosso is located on Corso Francesco Crispi, behind the Cathedral of San Giorgio (St. George), in the ancient district of Francavilla. It is an important testimony to the late Baroque architecture of Modica. Though the palace is named Napolino Tommasi Rosso, the family that commissioned the building was probably the Lorefice family.
In the second half of the 18th century, work began on a majestic two-storey palace with an internal courtyard and a rich, elaborate façade. The façade is symmetrical; the portal in the middle, with two windows on the sides, and three balconies with corbels on the second storey.

porzione del palazzo mascheroni mensoloni del balcone centrale del palazzo
The large portal is enclosed on the left and right by two columns, on which are carved two lion heads and from which hang two elegant cloths. The top is completed by an elegant protruding trabeation with a broken line, typical of Baroque architecture.

zoom colonna del grande portale
colonna del grande portale

The large corbels, five per balcony, are all richly decorated; the two lateral ones were embellished with plant motifs and the middle one features the classic masks of the late Sicilian Baroque palaces. The palace is an elegant building in the heart of the town that tells the story of a bygone era.
dettagli mensoloni

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Wonderful quick decorations

Prominent façade

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

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

One city, two sites

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Limestone, the colour of harmony

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

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The wall comes to life

A half-Baroque church

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A new site for a new church

Searching for colour

The Maiolica of the staircase

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The two churches

The internal colours

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The city of museums

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

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A colourful floor

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

A talking palace

A new site for a new city

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

Many owners, one palace

A hall for the feasts

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A prominent church

A long reconstruction

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The Staircase of Angels

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A museum to save a tradition

Norman apses

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The Burgos crucifix

The interior and its masterpieces

Between white and black

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The chocolate of Modica

The Baroque town by the sea

Two illustrious patron saints

The theatre of taste

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

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

Feasting in Palazzolo

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

Feast days

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

New roads for Catania

A square as the heart of the city

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A miniature city

Connections with other UNESCO sites

A feast only for Scicli

A symbol for the town

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Some prestigious works

St. Sebastian, so much work!

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

An eagle-shaped city

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The disastrous earthquake

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

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

A small room with a golden entrance

From International Gothic to present day

The church of Carmine

Discovering the mother church

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A triumph of colour

Some masterpieces

The colours of the cathedral

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

One city, three sites

A city in colour

A majestic and luminous church