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

A miniature city

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A colourful floor

One city, two sites

Between white and black

Discovering the mother church

The two churches

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The Baroque town by the sea

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

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The wall comes to life

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Feast days

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The chocolate of Modica

New roads for Catania

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

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The internal colours

Searching for colour

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The colours of the cathedral

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

Some prestigious works

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A square as the heart of the city

A half-Baroque church

A small room with a golden entrance

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The interior and its masterpieces

From International Gothic to present day

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

Prominent façade

A symbol for the town

The Burgos crucifix

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

An eagle-shaped city

A hall for the feasts

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The façade used as a puppet theatre

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

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

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The disastrous earthquake

A long reconstruction

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

The city of museums

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Feasting in Palazzolo

Wonderful quick decorations

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Two illustrious patron saints

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A prominent church

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

A city in colour

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

Norman apses

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A museum to save a tradition

The theatre of taste

Many owners, one palace

One city, three sites

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

A majestic and luminous church

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

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A talking palace

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A new site for a new church

A triumph of colour

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

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

Some masterpieces

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

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

A new site for a new city

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Maiolica of the staircase

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The Staircase of Angels

The church of Carmine

The Barresi-Branciforte lords