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

Many owners, one palace

The theatre of taste

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

A prominent church

One city, two sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Feast days

A long reconstruction

A small room with a golden entrance

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Wonderful quick decorations

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A hall for the feasts

Some masterpieces

The Staircase of Angels

A square as the heart of the city

The internal colours

Norman apses

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The Burgos crucifix

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The Baroque town by the sea

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

The colours of the cathedral

A city in colour

New roads for Catania

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A feast only for Scicli

From International Gothic to present day

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

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

The Maiolica of the staircase

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The interior and its masterpieces

Two illustrious patron saints

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

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

A miniature city

The disastrous earthquake

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

Feasting in Palazzolo

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

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

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

A colourful floor

The church of Carmine

A new site for a new church

Prominent façade

The two churches

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Between white and black

The wall comes to life

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

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

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

A triumph of colour

A museum to save a tradition

The chocolate of Modica

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Some prestigious works

A new site for a new city

Searching for colour

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

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

Discovering the mother church

The city of museums

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

One city, three sites

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

An eagle-shaped city

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

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

A symbol for the town

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A talking palace

A majestic and luminous church

A half-Baroque church