Catania

Wonderful quick decorations

A strike of colour leaves you breathless as you enter the church of San Benedetto (St. Benedict) on Via dei Crociferi.
The paintings that decorate the interior have a timeless beauty.
The painter Giovanni Tuccari was commissioned to fresco the church. He completed the entire painting series in just three years (1726-1729). At the centre of the vault is the triumph of St. Benedict accompanied by his sister, St. Scholastica, and Pope Gregory I. At the sides, Tuccari completed the work and painted some scenes from the saint’s life: him welcoming St. Maurus and St. Placidus, two Benedictine saints, and on another, Totila, king of the Ostrogoths, a barbarian population, kneels before him.
To complete the decoration, there is a series of female figures above the windows, the allegories of virtues : the first is prudence, a woman depicted near a marble column, a symbol of fortress; followed by temperance, faith, hope and splendid charity, a woman nursing her own baby and two others.
The depictions are full of figures, so the spectator becomes part of the scene, overwhelmed by the events. This effect and ability to involve the observer is all down to the artist. Using a play on light and shadow, Giovanni Tuccari : bestows movement and vitality upon the scenes. At the same time this painting technique allowed him to work extremely quickly; he completed the work in just three years.

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The chocolate of Modica

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Two illustrious patron saints

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

The church of Carmine

The colours of the cathedral

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

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

One city, three sites

A talking palace

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Some masterpieces

A long reconstruction

A symbol for the town

Prominent façade

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

Wonderful quick decorations

A prominent church

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Discovering the mother church

The façade used as a puppet theatre

New roads for Catania

The Baroque town by the sea

A city in colour

Limestone, the colour of harmony

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The theatre of taste

Some prestigious works

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Burgos crucifix

Many owners, one palace

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

A half-Baroque church

The two churches

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

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

A miniature city

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Feast days

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A small room with a golden entrance

The disastrous earthquake

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

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

From International Gothic to present day

A hall for the feasts

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The interior and its masterpieces

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The wall comes to life

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The Staircase of Angels

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

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

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The internal colours

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

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Searching for colour

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

An eagle-shaped city

A majestic and luminous church

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The city of museums

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

A square as the heart of the city

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

Between white and black

The Maiolica of the staircase

A triumph of colour

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

A new site for a new church

A colourful floor

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A feast only for Scicli

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

Norman apses

Feasting in Palazzolo

A new site for a new city

A museum to save a tradition

One city, two sites

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto