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

The two churches

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

A talking palace

The church of Carmine

A small room with a golden entrance

The Baroque town by the sea

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

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

From International Gothic to present day

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Some masterpieces

A half-Baroque church

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A feast only for Scicli

A prominent church

A new site for a new church

A long reconstruction

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

A city in colour

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Norman apses

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

A colourful floor

The theatre of taste

The internal colours

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

St. Sebastian, so much work!

A triumph of colour

A majestic and luminous church

A new site for a new city

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The disastrous earthquake

The city of museums

The colours of the cathedral

One city, three sites

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Prominent façade

Many owners, one palace

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The Burgos crucifix

A miniature city

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Searching for colour

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Connections with other UNESCO sites

One city, two sites

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

Wonderful quick decorations

A hall for the feasts

New roads for Catania

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Feast days

Between white and black

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

Some prestigious works

A museum to save a tradition

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

Two illustrious patron saints

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

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

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A symbol for the town

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The Staircase of Angels

Discovering the mother church

Feasting in Palazzolo

An eagle-shaped city

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

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A square as the heart of the city

The Maiolica of the staircase

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The wall comes to life

The interior and its masterpieces

The chocolate of Modica