Modica

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The city of Modica, which was the capital of the county of the same name until 1816, is located in the central part of the Hyblaean plateau.
città panoramica ModicaIt sits in a natural scenic context characterised by a particular urban structure due to two deep gorges on which the two sides of the city stand.
Already in the Middle Ages there was strong discontinuity between the central district and the outer parts, which is where the characteristic image of the broken pomegranate, as poetically described by the writer Gesualdo Bufalino came from.
The inhabited centre is built across two districts, Modica alta (Upper Modica), built in a rocky, hilly area, and Modica bassa (Lower Modica), which is built around the two former streams.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, Modica was crossed by small streams and a series of bridges that connected the various parts of the city. The rivers were buried and the old river became the current Corso Umberto.
corso Umberto I città drone inquadrando frontalmente le due chiese
The motif of the staircase, a main architectural feature of the city, is often used to bridge the gap between the different levels. The Cathedral of San Giorgio and that of San Pietro, two important religious buildings that are more majestic than the rest of the city, are both located above the city and are connected to the areas below by a majestic staircase.
Modica is also called the “city of a hundred churches” for the conspicuous presence of sacred buildings erected during the fervent reconstruction following the earthquake of 1693, led by the monastic orders and rich landowners.

A unifying project for the city of Catania

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The new roads of the city

The Church of St. Paul

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

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

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

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

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The eagle-shaped city

The city palace

The palace, the town, the church

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

Art in the cathedral

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

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

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

One city, three sites

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

The works in the church

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

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

St. Agatha and the candelore

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

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

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

The two churches

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The Church of St. Benedict

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The Benedictines’ library

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

The church and the monastery

A casket of precious works

A story of rebirth

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

The Palazzo dei due mori

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

City and nature

The Staircase of Angels

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

Religious architecture

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

The church and the college

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

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The Church of St. Francis

The art of maiolica

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The expansion of space and changing reality

The interior of the church: space and colour

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The Franciscan convent

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

A stone garden

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

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

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

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

The interior and works of art

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

Luminous sacred spaces

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The articulated interior spaces

A heritage of votive works

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The city within the city

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona