Catania

The Benedictines’ library

The work of the Benedictines not only followed religious and charitable commitments, but scientific undertakings, too. The monastery’s first collection of books was probably created at its foundation and used exclusively by the monks, who followed the strict Benedictine rule also through the study of literature and science.
They established relations with the city’s cultural institutions, opening to and acquiring from it important collections over the centuries.
There were around 24 thousand volumes of rare, ancient and modern manuscripts and parchments; this cultural wealth meant that the monks were great connoisseurs and disseminators of ancient knowledge, focused, at the same time, on the future.
After the eruption of 1669 and the earthquake of 1693 the monastery suffered great losses, but the monks managed to save part of the collection, which they looked after until the library was rebuilt. Located in most of the 18th-century wing, the construction of the new main hall of the library was entrusted to Giovanni Battista Vaccarini , who designed it with typical late Baroque features.
In fact, the monumental hall with a central elliptical plan is an authoritative room almost completely covered by orderly wooden bookshelves that reach the decorated vault, occupying the spaces up to the circular windows that illuminate the vast room from above.
In addition, the monastery had five other sumptuous rooms used for the Benedictine Museum , designed to closely match the library.
Today the former museum rooms are home to the library’s consultation and reading rooms.
biblioteca

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

The Staircase of Angels

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

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A stone garden

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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

The eagle-shaped city

The church and the monastery

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

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

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The Franciscan convent

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The articulated interior spaces

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

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Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The Church of St. Francis

The works in the church

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

A casket of precious works

The church and the college

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The Church of St. Paul

The expansion of space and changing reality

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

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

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Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

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The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

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

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

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The two churches

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

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

The Church of St. Benedict

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

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A heritage of votive works

Art in the cathedral

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City and nature

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The Benedictines’ library

The Church of Madonna della Stella

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

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The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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The new roads of the city

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The city palace

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

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The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The Palazzo dei due mori

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

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The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

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

The interior and works of art

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

The art of maiolica

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

St. Agatha and the candelore

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

Luminous sacred spaces

Religious architecture

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

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

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral