Catania

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The 1693 earthquake destroyed the church and forced Bishop Riggio to order its reconstruction.
The first task was entrusted to the Capuchin friar Girolamo Palazzotto who began work in 1709, choosing to reuse the structures that had remained standing, i.e. the three Norman apses and the transept.
In 1729, Palermo-born Pietro Galletti was appointed bishop, and decided to entrust the supervision of the work to the abbot architect  Giovanni Battista Vaccarini .
Vaccarini made great changes to the façade and the side elevation on Via Vittorio Emanuele, where he inserted a portal from 1577 belonging to the previous destroyed church.

La cattedrale di Sant'Agata fil di ferro
La cattedrale di Sant’Agata si affaccia su l’ampia piazza Duomo dominandola con la sua imponente facciata scenografica. Per accedere alla chiesa è necessario superare la breve scalinata d’ingresso delimitata dalla cancellata in ferro battuto e superare il sagrato. La facciata è suddivisa in tre piani orizzontali che si restringono verso l’alto. La fascia più basse, il primo ordine, è scandito verticalmente da sei alte colonne. Queste sono intervallate dai tre portali di ingresso, di cui quello centrale è il più grande ed è sormontato da un timpano curvo. La seconda fascia è scandita da sei colonnine ravvicinate e al centro presenta in una nicchia la statua di Sant’Agata con lo sguardo rivolto al cielo. L’ultima fascia è scandita da quattro colonnine e un timpano triangolare.
La cattedrale di Sant’Agata
La cattedrale di Sant’Agata si affaccia su l’ampia piazza Duomo dominandola con la sua imponente facciata scenografica. Per accedere alla chiesa è necessario superare la breve scalinata d’ingresso delimitata dalla cancellata in ferro battuto e superare il sagrato. La facciata è suddivisa in tre piani orizzontali che si restringono verso l’alto. La fascia più basse, il primo ordine, è scandito verticalmente da sei alte colonne. Queste sono intervallate dai tre portali di ingresso, di cui quello centrale è il più grande ed è sormontato da un timpano curvo. La seconda fascia è scandita da sei colonnine ravvicinate e al centro presenta in una nicchia la statua di Sant’Agata con lo sguardo rivolto al cielo. L’ultima fascia è scandita da quattro colonnine e un timpano triangolare.

statua di sant'Agata nella nicchiaThe design for the façade was highly criticised despite its obvious architectural qualities.
It was completed between 1730 and 1761, with the aim of adapting the building to the new Baroque style.
The architect designed a three-level elevation with vertical tension, with the image of St. Agatha in the centre inside a niche. Here, Baroque is expressed in all its grandeur: the trabeation that divides the three levels “moves” angularly, breaking up around each capital, creating a movement and depth emphasised by the richness of the marble and the 14 granite columns detached from the façade.
The project was finally completed by Battaglia who built the dome, and in the 19th century the bell tower was rebuilt.

The works in the church

Religious architecture

A casket of precious works

Art in the cathedral

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

A heritage of votive works

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

City and nature

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

One city, three sites

A unifying project for the city of Catania

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The neo-Gothic seminary chapel: symbols, light and space

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The interior and works of art

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The palace, the town, the church

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

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Carlo and the former Jesuit college

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The Palazzo dei due mori

Views denied, views conquered: the power of the devout Benedictines

A story of rebirth

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The expansion of space and changing reality

The senses tell the Benedictine Monastery and the Church of San Nicolò l’Arena

A stone garden

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The church and the college

The Benedictines’ library

The Church of St. Francis

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The art of maiolica

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The Badia di Sant’Agata (St. Agatha’s Abbey)

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The senses tell the story of the Sanctuary Church of Santa Maria della Stella

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The city palace

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The church of San Nicolò l’Arena: the majesty of an unfinished beauty

The Staircase of Angels

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

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

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The freedom of worship and the Catholic Church’s role in the diffusion of Baroque

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The church and the monastery

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The two churches

Barresi-Branciforte: the lords of the fiefdom and the modernisation of the town

Piazza Duomo, the elephant fountain, the heart of the city

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The city within the city

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The Franciscan convent

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The interior of the church: space and colour

The Duomo di San Giorgio (Cathedral of St. George)

The Church of St. Paul

The articulated interior spaces

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The Church of Madonna della Stella

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The Church of St. Benedict

The eagle-shaped city

The new roads of the city

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

Verticality and dynamism of the façade of the Church of San Carlo

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

Geometry and wonder in civic architecture in the Baroque of the Val di Noto

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

St. Agatha and the candelore

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

Luminous sacred spaces

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha