Scicli

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

touch
Different materials for different temperatures

A church decorated with infinite materials that make it wonderful and precious.
If we could touch the walls and decorations of the church, we would realise how much the temperature of one material can vary compared to another: the glass windows are very cold in winter, but much warmer in summer when heated by the sun; the blue, plaster decorations are much warmer than the marble columns of the aedicula where the statue of the saint is kept; and the saint, made of wood, is warmer than all those materials.

sight
The church with a blue interior

The church of San Giovanni Evangelista (St. John the Evangelist) features a splendid decoration with blue and gold stuccoes from a renovation in the mid-19th century.
The artist is one Giuseppe Sesta, as can be read from an inscription at the entrance which also bears the date 1861.
The blue of the decoration is like a ribbon that runs around and ties together the church walls, lit up from time to time by the golden stuccoes.
tela crocifisso di Burgos

A long reconstruction

The senses tell the Benedictine Monastery and San NicoIò l’Arena

The Maiolica of the staircase

A square as the heart of the city

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A new site for a new church

A small room with a golden entrance

A prominent church

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A symbol for the town

A half-Baroque church

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Freedom of worship and the role of the Catholic Church in the diffusion of Baroque

A city in colour

One city, three sites

Two illustrious patron saints

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Church of San Giuliano (St. Julian) on Via dei Crociferi: reconstruction

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

From the contrast of the exterior to the internal jubilation of colours

A hall for the feasts

St. Sebastian, so much work!

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

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

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The senses tell the Mother Church of San Nicolò and of the Santissimo Salvatore

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

One city, two sites

A talking palace

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The role of the religious orders in rebuilding the Val di Noto

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Searching for colour

The Staircase of Angels

The disastrous earthquake

Discovering the mother church

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Some prestigious works

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Norman apses

The chocolate of Modica

Prominent façade

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The internal colours

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

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

A feast only for Scicli

From International Gothic to present day

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A museum to save a tradition

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Wonderful quick decorations

Feast days

A colourful floor

Many owners, one palace

The interior and its masterpieces

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

Feasting in Palazzolo

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The Baroque town by the sea

The two churches

A majestic and luminous church

The colours of the cathedral

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giovanni Battista

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The Burgos crucifix

A miniature city

The senses tell the story of the church of Santa Maria del Carmelo

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

Some masterpieces

A new site for a new city

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

An eagle-shaped city

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

New roads for Catania

A triumph of colour

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The city of museums

The church of Carmine

Between white and black

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The wall comes to life

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

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

The theatre of taste