The scenic search for the illusion of light

Introduction to the route

The proposed educational route reconstructs the main events of the history of the Val di Noto, through the study of some of the most important architectural heritage in the eight Late Baroque Towns: Catania, Militello in Val di Catania, Caltagirone, Ragusa, Modica, Scicli, Palazzolo Acreide and Noto.
A territory that on this occasion can be examined and discovered over the course of its history, between its elements of homogeneity and diversity in terms of history, art and architecture which led its inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The common threads of the route will be scenery, light and theatricality, all characteristics belonging to Sicilian Baroque.
Through this study, we will capture aspects of architecture, figurative arts, sculpture and local traditions. For example, the desire to design light structures with articulated openings that favour the infiltration of light and chiaroscuro effects on the walls, but also the preference for traditional materials, the wise and focused use of materials that demonstrated the skill of local workers, such as the use of stucco instead of marble, and painted glass instead of hard stone.
The route will allow us to understand how the territories and populations affected by the earthquake of 1693 reacted to the catastrophic event that triggered a great renovation, which, in the wake of what was happening at the time in every important artistic centre of Italy, uses means of visual communication, illusionary perspective and spectacularity to involve, amaze and communicate.
The route is wound with texts that use the five senses to uncover and relive the atmosphere of the past of the towns of the Val di Noto, recounting the colours, smells and sounds that characterised them, as well as traditional food and the materials used to construct buildings.

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The church and the college

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

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

Religious architecture

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The city within the city

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

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

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

One city, three sites

The two churches

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

The Church of Madonna della Stella

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The works in the church

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The eagle-shaped city

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

A stone garden

A casket of precious works

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

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The Palazzo dei due mori

The art of maiolica

The palace, the town, the church

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

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The interior and works of art

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The Church of St. Benedict

The interior of the church: space and colour

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

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

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

The city palace

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

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

The Franciscan convent

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

The church and the monastery

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

A story of rebirth

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

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

The new roads of the city

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

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

A heritage of votive works

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

Reconstruction after the earthquake

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

Luminous sacred spaces

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The Church of St. Francis

St. Agatha and the candelore

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

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

Art in the cathedral

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

City and nature

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

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The Church of St. Paul

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The Benedictines’ library

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The expansion of space and changing reality

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

The articulated interior spaces

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The Staircase of Angels

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

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque