Modica

The works in the church

The interior of the church is richly decorated and features a large number of precious works.
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In the sumptuous apse above the main altar stands the polychrome wooden statue of the Immaculate Conception, protected by a semicircle marked by columns between which are the two statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, housed in two Baroque-style niches.
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The three wooden statues were made in 1772 by the Neapolitan artist Pietro Padula.
A large Murano glass chandelier illuminated the apse but unfortunately was destroyed when it was moved during some maintenance work.
Two sculptural masterpieces located in the right nave are worthy of special mention.
The Madonna of Trapani, a 16th-century marble statue, and the statue group of St. Peter and the Paralysed Man, a wooden work created in 1893 by Palermo-born sculptor Benedetto Civiletti.
On the main entrance stands the majestic organ composed of 3200 pipes and two keyboards dating back to 1924, made by the Polizzi brothers. The side entrance on the left houses a wooden statue of “Christ at the Column” depicted in a red skirt reminiscent of the Christ of Burgos.
The statue is inserted in a canopy-shaped litter finely finished with stucco and gilding.

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The expansion of space and changing reality

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The Palazzo dei due mori

The two churches

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

A casket of precious works

The Church of Madonna della Stella

A stone garden

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

The eagle-shaped city

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Church of St. Benedict

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

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

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

The Benedictines’ library

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

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The palace, the town, the church

The articulated interior spaces

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

Reconstruction after the earthquake

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The church and the college

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The Franciscan convent

The art of maiolica

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

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

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

St. Agatha and the candelore

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The interior of the church: space and colour

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

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

The Church of St. Francis

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

Altars, saints and sculptural works

City and nature

The interior and works of art

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

Luminous sacred spaces

A heritage of votive works

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

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

Art in the cathedral

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

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

The new roads of the city

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The works in the church

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

The city palace

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

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

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

The church and the monastery

The city within the city

The Staircase of Angels

One city, three sites

The Church of St. Paul

Religious architecture

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

The casket of austerity under the great dome

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

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A story of rebirth

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

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

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion