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

One city, three sites

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The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

A heritage of votive works

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

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

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

The casket of austerity under the great dome

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

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

Art in the cathedral

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

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

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The Church of Madonna della Stella

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The Staircase of Angels

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

A stone garden

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The palace, the town, the church

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The two churches

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

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

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

A story of rebirth

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

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The Church of St. Benedict

The new roads of the city

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

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The Franciscan convent

The interior of the church: space and colour

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The articulated interior spaces

The interior and works of art

A casket of precious works

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

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

The art of maiolica

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The church and the monastery

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

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

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

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

The church and the college

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Reconstruction after the earthquake

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

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

Luminous sacred spaces

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The Church of St. Francis

The Church of St. Paul

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The eagle-shaped city

A unifying project for the city of Catania

Religious architecture

City and nature

The city within the city

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

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The city palace

St. Agatha and the candelore

The expansion of space and changing reality

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

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

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

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The works in the church

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The Palazzo dei due mori

The Benedictines’ library

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