Introduction to Val di Noto

The expansion of space and changing reality

Baroque encouraged a new view of the world where reality and fiction animated the art of painting, sculpture and architecture before merging into unexpected scenic sights that roused wonder and amazement.
The anthropocentric doctrines of the Renaissance, accompanied by a static view of society, were replaced by the need to identify with a mobile universe, thanks also to the new cosmological discoveries of Nicolaus Copernicus and the advent of new trade routes that broadened horizons that were previously unknown. In Baroque, renewed demands came to life that led to today’s culture and indispensable components of contemporary town planning.
In the Val di Noto, the innovative drive of this cultural and artistic period goes beyond the aesthetic revolution promoted by it, giving importance to the urgencies of the urban architectural context of each city affected by the terrible earthquake of 1693.

The casket of austerity under the great dome

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

The Church of St. Paul

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

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

The city within the city

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The expansion of space and changing reality

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

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

The interior of the church: space and colour

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

The Benedictines’ library

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

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

Luminous sacred spaces

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

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

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

A stone garden

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

The Church of Madonna della Stella

The Staircase of Angels

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The church and the monastery

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

Religious architecture

The new roads of the city

The church and the college

The palace, the town, the church

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

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

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

A story of rebirth

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

St. Agatha and the candelore

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The Franciscan convent

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The Church of St. Benedict

The Palazzo dei due mori

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

A heritage of votive works

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The works in the church

The city palace

The art of maiolica

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

The two churches

A casket of precious works

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

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

One city, three sites

The eagle-shaped city

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The articulated interior spaces

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The Church of St. Francis

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

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

City and nature

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

Art in the cathedral

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

A unifying project for the city of Catania

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

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

The interior and works of art