Catania

The interior of the church: space and colour

The interior of the church of St. Agatha is a visual synthesis of Baroque principles.
frontale inquadrando altare maggiore
The church has a central, a Greek cross plan. It runs lengthways on a 16-metre-diameter circle around which four other circles are joined that form the side niches, according to the main and transversal axes.
The side niches create effects of contraction and expansion in the space and house 4 altars in yellow Castronovo marble. Reserved for all masonry and architectural structures, the luminous white marble is interrupted only by the chromatic elements in the decorations: the yellow marble of the altars, the sculptures and the decorated floor.
Created by Ignazio Marino’s workshop according to one of his designs, the splendid floor is made of black and white marble and covers the entire surface with an abstract design that points towards the centre of the church.
disegno pavimento
The optical effect created by the floor’s design is reminiscent of the design of the beautiful lantern above, which projects light onto the floor.
The space features Doric pilasters placed in the background and composite order columns that stand out in the foreground and along which runs a broken trabeation .
The trabeation is surmounted by a series of wrought iron candelabra that create a sinuous play of light. The entire space is completed by the dome , once covered externally with square glazed terracotta tiles, removed by the 2008 restoration work. It is divided by double ribs that converge in the elegant lantern.
cupola

 

 

 

 

 

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

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

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The Church of St. Francis

The interior and works of art

The eagle-shaped city

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

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

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

The articulated interior spaces

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

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

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The casket of austerity under the great dome

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

City and nature

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The church and the college

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

The Benedictines’ library

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

The new roads of the city

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The Church of Madonna della Stella

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The Church of St. Benedict

The Franciscan convent

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

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

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

The city palace

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

A casket of precious works

The palace, the town, the church

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

One city, three sites

The Staircase of Angels

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

The church and the monastery

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The Palazzo dei due mori

St. Agatha and the candelore

A story of rebirth

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

Art in the cathedral

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

The works in the church

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The two churches

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

Reconstruction after the earthquake

Religious architecture

The city within the city

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Altars, saints and sculptural works

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

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

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

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

The interior of the church: space and colour

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

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

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

The art of maiolica

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

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

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

Luminous sacred spaces

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

A stone garden

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

The Church of St. Paul

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

A heritage of votive works

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The expansion of space and changing reality

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble