Catania

The casket of austerity under the great dome

As you enter the church you are enveloped by an evocative golden light inside an elongated octagonal space, bordered by four chapels and four altars alternating along the axes of the church.
panoramica interno verso la volta
At the height of the trabeation on the first level, the characteristic swollen gratings at the bottom allowed the nuns to participate in liturgical celebrations without being seen.
Under the vestibule is the crypt , where the nuns are buried. The giant order of limestone pilasters covered with plaster is embellished with details in pure gold and stucco.
paraste altareThe eye, drawn upwards, is attracted to the majestic dome decorated with frescoes, dating back to 1842, by the Catanese painter Giuseppe Rapisardi .
The scene shows St. Beryl, the third patron saint of the city, receiving the task of founding the Church of Catania from St. Peter.
The ethereal and classic room is very different from the exuberant interiors of Sicilian Baroque.
The whiteness of the walls is interrupted by the precious polychrome marble of the floor and altars, in particular the high altar which stands out sumptuously in the apse .
The particular design of the 18th-century floor, created by Giovanni Battista Marino , consists of eight alternating segments decorated with arabesque motifs. The design converges into a central flower, tracing the Greek cross plan of the church, then extends to the chapels.
pavimento altare pavimento

The church and the college

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

The art of maiolica

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

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

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The palace, the town, the church

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

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

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

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

Religious architecture

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

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

St. Agatha and the candelore

The Palazzo dei due mori

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

City and nature

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

Reconstruction after the earthquake

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The articulated interior spaces

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

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

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

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

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

A heritage of votive works

The two churches

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

One city, three sites

A stone garden

A casket of precious works

The Benedictines’ library

The church and the monastery

The Staircase of Angels

The interior and works of art

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The Church of St. Francis

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

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

The city within the city

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

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

Luminous sacred spaces

A story of rebirth

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

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

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

The Church of St. Benedict

The Franciscan convent

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The eagle-shaped city

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

Art in the cathedral

The works in the church

The Church of St. Paul

The city palace

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

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

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The new roads of the city

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The interior of the church: space and colour

A unifying project for the city of Catania

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

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The expansion of space and changing reality

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

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria