Catania

New roads for Catania

A geometric model was envisaged for the reconstruction and reorganisation of the streets of Catania, formed of streets with right angle intersections, extending around Piazza Duomo.
The four main roads (Via Etnea, Via Sangiuliano, Via Vittorio Emanuele and Via Giuseppe Garibaldi) were designed in this sense.
The former Via Uzeda, now Via Etnea, was designed with the idea of straightening the old Via La Luminaria and creating a long straight road starting from Piazza Duomo.
panorama piazza duomo catania Via Etnea
It was designed to intersect with Via Sangiuliano, which still links the Montevergine district to the sea, and with which it forms the Quattro Canti “.
Via San Giuliano  4 canti con Via Etnea
The other two roads that were built are the current Via Vittorio Emanuele and Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, which today link Piazza Duomo with the old city and Piazza Duomo with Porta Garibaldi respectively.
Via Vittorio Emanuele Via Garibaldi

Via Crociferi was added and completed the city’s new road network, and is where some of the most beautiful churches in Catania were built. It was in these streets that the writer Giovanni Verga  set many of his novels. Some examples include Storia di una capinera (Story of a Blackcap), Una Peccatrice (A Sinner) and I Malavoglia (The Reluctance).
The new road layout brought great advantages to the city of Catania; it made it easier to move around and thus made it possible to create vast spaces where citizens could rush to safety in an earthquake. Reconstruction work was started by groups of workers from Calabria and the area around Etna, experts in the removal of lava stone  blocks.

An eagle-shaped city

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Wonderful quick decorations

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

From International Gothic to present day

The Baroque town by the sea

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A city in colour

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

A new site for a new church

The theatre of taste

Searching for colour

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The disastrous earthquake

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Prominent façade

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

New roads for Catania

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

One city, three sites

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A half-Baroque church

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The colours of the cathedral

The Burgos crucifix

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The Staircase of Angels

Some masterpieces

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The two churches

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

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

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Feast days

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Connections with other UNESCO sites

One city, two sites

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A museum to save a tradition

A hall for the feasts

The internal colours

The church of Carmine

A long reconstruction

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

A square as the heart of the city

A talking palace

Discovering the mother church

A prominent church

A colourful floor

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Many owners, one palace

Feasting in Palazzolo

Modica, a city with ancient origins

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

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The chocolate of Modica

Between white and black

A triumph of colour

A small room with a golden entrance

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

Two illustrious patron saints

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A feast only for Scicli

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

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

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Some prestigious works

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The city of museums

The wall comes to life

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The interior and its masterpieces

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

A symbol for the town

Norman apses

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

A new site for a new city

The Maiolica of the staircase

A miniature city

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

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

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A majestic and luminous church

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family