Sicily
Catania
HISTORY
The second largest city in Sicily by population, Catania spreads out over the Plain of Catania,
between the Ionian Sea and the slopes of Etna. The surrounding countryside, which the volcanic
eruptions have made very fertile, is mainly given up to the cultivation of citrus fruit. The close link
between the city and the volcano is also visible in the buildings, many of which are constructed in
lava stone. According to Thucydides, Katane was founded after 729 BC by the Chalcidian settlers
from Naxos, on the hill now known as the "Colle dei Benedettini". In the 7th c. the legislator
Caronda gave the city a moderately inspired government, half-way between oligarchy and
democracy. In 476 BC Catania was conquered by Hieron of Syracuse, and the inhabitants were
1
deported, only to return after 15 years. During the Punic Wars the town was conquered by the
Romans (263 BC) and it succeeded in maintaining a position of considerable affluence until the
Imperial Age. After the decadence caused by the invasions of the Barbarians and the Byzantine
conquest, the town was occupied by the Arabs, who redistributed the land and promoted agriculture
and commerce. In 1071, after the Norman conquest, construction began on the cathedral, and
numerous country villages were founded, each under the jurisdiction of a monastery . Under the
Swabians, Frederick II built the Castello Ursino here, in order to complete his fortifications in this
part of Sicily. The arrival of the Aragonese in Catania, which the Court often chose as a centre for
its activity, led to the foundation of the Siculorum Gymnasium, the first prestigious Sicilian
university. The great eruption of 1669 and the terrible earthquake in 1693, which affected all E
Sicily and destroyed most of the city, annihilated an economy that was already in a critical state.
Catania was eventually rebuilt, and it spread considerably; it then suffered the effect of a new
agricultural crisis, before recovering yet again. It was elected provincial capital in the 19th c. and
again began to expand towards new zones, until it achieved in our own days its present-day image
of a modem city.
MONUMENTS
The city centre; this was the nucleus of the ancient city and it is where the Cathedral stands. We are
in Piazza Duomo, created after 1693 on the site of the pre-existing "platea magna" (main square).
At the centre is the Elephant Fountain, the symbol of Catania, designed by Gian Battista Vaccarini,
restored in 1998: on the pedestal, with its putti and bas-reliefs, the scu1ptor placed an elephant of
the Roman Age, locally known as "liotri" from the name of a Byzantine necromancer from Catania,
whosename was either Heliodorus or Diodorus. Above the elephant there is an Egyptian obelisk
which may have come from the Roman circus in Catania. The Cathedral, dedicated to St Agata, was
built by Count Roger between 1078 and 1093. Of the originai building we can still see the apse and
the transept, flanked by two imposing towers (the first orders still remain) which bestowed upon the
church the appearance of an ecclesia munita, i.e. a fortified church. The façade, extremely agile and
scenographic, was built in the 18th c. to a design by Vaccarini. The cupola was also built in the 18th
c., and the campanile in the following century. In the N prospect is a 16th c. portal by G. B.
Mazzolo da Carrara. The Cathedral is of considerable length and is divided into a nave and two
aisles, with an ample transept with three apses. In the area of the sanctuary it is possible to see the
remaining parts of the original Norman church. The restoration work carried out in the 1950s
removed the 19th c. stucco additions. There are some interesting paintings in the left-hand aisle: St
Antonio Abate by Guglielmo Borremans (fourth chapel) and The Martyrdom of St Agata by Filippo
Paladino (fifth chapel). The Chapel of the Crucifix, on the left of the transept, stili preserves some
Norman structures. The presbytery contains some 17th c. frescoes, among which one in the apse,
representing the Martyrdom of St Agata, is by Gian Battista Corradini. The precious wooden choir
with stories of St Agata was carved at the end of the 16th c., to the design of Sapione di Guido. On
the right of the presbytery is the Chapel of St Agata which, beyond a splendidly decorated little
portal contains a silver urn by Vincenzo Archifel, with the remains of the saint. In the Chapel of the
Madonna, on the right of the transept, is the tomb of Constance, wife of Frederick III of Aragon,
and in a Roman sarcophagus are the remains of the royal family of Aragon. The sacristy (1675)
contains a fresco representing the eruption of Etna in 1669. The Treasury displays numerous items
of great value, especially silver- work, including the arm of St George (1576), the elegant enamel
bust of Cataldo, and the crown and gilded enamel bust of St Agata. Through a door in the comer to
the right of the façade we can reach the Roman Terme Achilliane, over which the church was built.
The Town Hall stands on the N side of Piazza Duomo. Building on it started in 1695 and continued
until the following century .The main façade is by Vaccarini. The 18th c. Seminario dei Chierici is
on the S side of Piazza del Duomo. This clerical seminary has a massive façade, framed by pilasterstrips, as well as omately rusticated walls, decorated windows and portal, and balconies with
figured corbels. The Seminario houses the Diocesan Museum from April 2001. On the right of the
seminary is the Fontana dell'Amenano, a 19th c. work by Tito Angelini. (Immediately beyond the
2
fountain is the open space of Piazza Alonzo di Benedetto, where the picturesque and characteristic
Fish Market is held.) From here, following Via Dusmet, we reach the port, the second busiest in
Sicily after that of Palermo. Nearby is Palazzo Biscari, a splendid 18th c. mansion built by
Vincenzo Paternò, Prince of Biscari, and modified later in the same century. The SW façade,
looking towards the sea, is abundantly decorated with sculpted festoons and grotesques. The ball
room is also finely decorated, with rocailles, frescoes and mirrors, testifying to the high degree of
refinement of the aristocratic society of 18th c. Catania. Retracing our steps, we see at the corner of
Via Garibaldi and Via Cristoforo Colombo, Palazzo Pardo, an elegant 18th c. building. Now, along
Via Plebiscito we come to Piazza Federico di Svevia and the Castello Ursino, a powerful building
erected between 1239 and 1250 by Federick II. The castle has the typical structure of the fortified
buildings of the Swabian period, with a square ground-plan distributed around a central court and
circular turrets. The Castle houses the Museo Civico, which was created in 1934 by combining the
collection of the Benedectine monks with that of the Prince of Biscari. The Museum contains works
of extraordinary value: an outstanding archaeological collection together with works of art from the
Middle Ages and the 16th c., as well as works by De Saliba, Novelli, Stomer and Paladino.
Opposite the Castello Ursino is the Chiesa di San Sebastiano, which has a fine 18th c. portal
originally in the church of San Nicola dei Trixini, now demolished. From here we can walk along
Via Castello Ursino. On the comer with Via Garibaldi we see the Chiesa di Santa Chiara (sec. half
18th c.) by the architect Giuseppe Palazzotto, characterized by an ampie octagonal open gallery that
almost completely encircles it. It contains a painting by Paola Vasta, St Laurence, another by Olivio
Sozzi, The Blessed Mary, and a splendid crucifix. Between Via Garibaldi and Via Sant'Anna, in an
18th c. palazzo, is the house of Giovanni Verga, furnished almost entirely as it used to be during his
lifetime. The house is open to the public every morning. Further along Via Garibaldi we come to
Palazzo Trewhella (19th c.). Nearby is the Chiesa di Santa Maria dell'Aiuto, which has a single
nave and a richly scenographic façade (18th c.). Retracing our steps, along Via Garibaldi, we come
to the Bourbon barracks (19th c.), now used as a tobacco factory. Via Garibaldi ends at Porta
Garibaldi, formerly Ferdinanda, which was erected in 1768 in honour of the wedding of Ferdinand
IV and Maria Carolina of Austria. This city-gate was designed by the architects Francesco Battaglia
(inner part) and Stefano Ittar (the elegantly decorated outer part). Leaving Via Garibaldi we can
take Via Plebiscito, following its circular route which was traced out in 1674 along the lava flows of
1669, and in this way reach the long thoroughfare of Corso Vittorio Emanuele which bisects the
city from W to E and terrninates in Piazza Duomo. Several Palaces (Gravina, Valdisavoia and
others), evidence of the elevated quality of baroque Catania, look out over the Corso, as this street
used to be called. But we move now to the part of the city, piazza Dante, dominated by the hill on
which stands the old Benedictine Convent, one of the largest in Europe: it covers an area of 100,000
sq metres and is now the seat of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Catania. Theinitial project
(1703) wasassigned to Antonio Amato, who was later followed by the leading local architects: Di
Benedetto, Palazzotto, Battaglia, Vaccarini and Ittar. The convent is distributed around two
cloisters. The E and S façade are two spendid examples of Catania baroque, with decorations, stone
carvings, ashlars and fine capitals. The first cloister is classical in structure with Roman arches; the
second, elegant and lively, captures the typical features of the Catania baroque style. In the N wing
of the convent is the Library , the work of G. B. Vaccarini, with elegant shelves. The ceiling
frescoes by G. B. Piparo represent the Triumph of faith and the cardinal and theological virtues. The
library contains numerous very valuable volumes. The Church is dedicated to St Nicholas. The
façade is extremely agile. The extensive internal space is dominated by powerful columns and
exalted by the magnificence of the vaults. Among the more interesting works there are the
Martyrdom of St Agata by Mariano Rossi (18th c.), the Martyrdom of St Andrew by Ferdinando
Boutard (18th c.) and numerous other 18th c. paintings. Along the walls of the presbytery there is a
magnificent choirwith splendid carvings and, in the apse, a beautiful gilded organ, the work of
Donato del Piano (1755). The sacristy, at the end of the nave, is richly adorned with decorations of
refined design. There are some fine cabinets embellished with exquisite little wooden statues.
Returning to Corso Vittorio Emanuele, we see the Convento and Chiesa della Santissima Trinità
3
and the Convento and Chiesa di Sant'Agostino that contains some paintings by Olivio Sozzi and an
18th c. Madonna with St John by Sebastiano Conca. From here, turning into Via Trinità, we can see
the remains of the Roman Forum, often referred to as the "Greek theatre". Nearby is the Odeum, a
semicircular building also used for public spectacles. Following Via Rotonda we come to the
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Rotonda, built on the site of a Roman thermal building. We return to
Corso Vittorio Emanuele and proceed to Palazzo Gravina-Cruyllas, with its magnificent rusticated
portal, which now houses the Bellini Museum. Here we can admire various relics, documents and
objects related to Vincenzo Bellini, including the cembalo on which the composer performed his
Norma in Catania (1832). The most representative religious buildings are also to be found in this
area of the city: the Chiesa di San Francesco, in Piazza San Francesco, a monumental scenographic
church built to the design of Francesco Battaglia and completed by Stefano Ittar which contains a
copy of Raphael's Spasimo by Jacopo Vignerio (1541) and some valuable l8th c. paintings. In
Piazza San Francesco we see the Monument to Cardinal Dusmet (1935). From here we enter Via
Crociferi, created in the l8th c. and best visited at times when there is less traffic about, as it
contains some of the most fascinating examples of baroque architecture, and not just in Sicily. In
the lower part the San Benedetto complex, consisting of the church and the buildings of the Badia
Grande (by Francesco Battaglia) and the Badia Piccola (possibly by Vaccarini), is distributed on
both sides of the street, joined by an arch known as the arco di San Benedetto. The Church (early
l8th c.) has a single nave and magnificent stucco and fresco decorations by Giovanni Tuccari
(1726), with the Life of St Benedict and the Glory of the Saint. The high altar and the inlaid marble
floor are also outstanding. Not far away, overlooking Piazza Asmundo, is Palazzo Asmundo, a
notable example of l8th c. aristocratic architecture. Near San Benedetto is the severe Chiesa di San
Francesco Borgia and the Collegio dei Gesuiti. The Church, built towards the end of the l8th c., was
designed by Fra' Angelo Italia. There are a nave and two aisles. The frescoes in the cupola, with the
History of the Company of Jesus, are by Olivio Sozzi. Opposite is the Chiesa di San Giuliano, one
of the tallest baroque buildings in Catania, built in the l8th c. and designed by Gian Battista
Vaccarini. The façade is convex and measured in form. The inlaid marble floor of the church is very
elegant. The high altar is an admirable piece of sculpture with precious marbles and gilded bronzes.
Also interesting are a sculpted group of the Crucifixion and a good painting by Olivio Sozzi: The
Madonna delle Grazie and Saints Joseph and Benedict. Along Via Crociferi, we see on the corner
with Via Cappuccini the ruins of the fortress built by Charles V (1556) which incorporate the
baroque Santuario di Sant'Agata al Carcere (Church of St Agata in Prison), so called because
according to tradition St Agata was imprisoned here. The actual structure of the church is older
(15th c.). Above the high altar there is a fine 16th c. panel painting, the Martyrdom of St Agata,
signed "Bernardino Niger grecus". Some relics of St Agata are kept here: two slabs of lava stone
(her footprints are said to be visible on one of them) and the lid of the coffin which once contained
her body. A small room of Roman age, which is entered by a little door , is traditionally said to have
been the saint's prison, before her martyrdom. The Chiesa di Sant'Agata la Vetere is a 19th c.
building, standing on the site of an ancient early Christian basilica. A painting by Giuseppe Sciuti,
the Madonna dei Bambini (1898), in the second altar on the left, and a Roman sarcophagus on the
main altar are of great interest. Proceeding further along Via Crociferi, we arrive at the San
Dornenico quarter, which contains some significant buildings. The Conservatorio della Purità (sec.
half 18th c.) has a severe smooth façade; the adjacent Chiesa della Purità, with its convex façade,
was designed by Antonino Battaglia (18th c.). Retuming along Via Cappuccini, we come to the
Chiesa di San Domenico (18th c.), which is decorated by two statues of St Dominic and St
Vincenzo Ferreri and, to the side, by a fine richly omamented little baroque portal. Inside the church
is a painting by Olivio Sozzi, representing St Vincenzo Ferreri resuscitating a child, and a marble
statue by Antonello Gagini, the Madonna and Child. The Convento dei Domenicani, which has a
library with precious 16th and 17th c. volumes, stands in Via della Maddalena. Proceeding further
along Via Androne, we come to the elegant Villa Majorana, built between 1911 and 1913 by the
architect Francesco Fichera. We continue uphill and near the corner with Viale Regina Margherita
come to the Chiesa di Santa Maria di Gesù, which was destroyed by the great earthquake of 1693
4
and rebuilt in the early 18th c. Further along Viale Regina Margherita we arrive at Piazza Roma,
with its Monument to Umberto I, by Mario Rutelli; opposite is the entrance to Villa Bellini, once
private and now public gardens of extraordinary beauty. Viale Regina Margherita intersects the long
straight thoroughfare Via Etnea, which was created in the 18th c.: it bisects the city from N to the S,
reaching as far as Piazza Duomo. In Piazza Stesicoro we can see the Monument to Vincenzo
Bellini, by Giulio Monteverde (1880-82) and, opposite, the ruins of the 2nd c. BC Roman
Amphitheatre, built in lava stone faced with marble (now open). At the other end of the square is
the Chiesa di San Biagio, also known as the Chiesa di Sant'Agata alla Fornace (Church of St Agata
at the Furnace): common beliefhas it that this is the place of St Agata's martyrdom. This hall
church, built in the early 19th c. by Antonino Battaglia, is typically neoclassical in appearance. The
square is completed by the old Ospedale di San Marco (1724) and the Pa1azzo Paternò del Toscano
(1870). From Piazza Stesicoro we go up Via San Gaetano alla Grotta, where the Chiesa di San
Gaetano alla Grotta stands, and come to the Santuario del Carmine, built after 1729. It has a
monumental façade, with two powerful jutting half-columns Inside there are some interesting 18th
c. canvases and a painting by Andrea Pastura of the Madonna del Cannelo (1501). From here we
can return up Via Etnea to the crossroads with Via San Giuliano, where we have the Quattro Canti
(Four Comers), built in accordance with the town plan designed by Camastra after the 1693
earthquake. Before the Cathedral, we come to La Collegiata, built by Angelo Amato to the design
of Angelo Italia. The highly imaginative and richly decorated façade is by Stefano Ittar. Inside, the
church has a nave and two aisles and is decorated with frescoes by Giuseppe Sciuti and a number of
paintings, including Sant'Apollonia by Olivio Sozzi (18th c.). Nearby is the Palazzo dell'Università
(18th-19th c.), the central university building, which stands on the site of the "Almo Studio",
founded by Alfonso the Magnanimous in 1444. In the Corso stands the Chiesa di Sant'Agata,
designed by G.B. Vaccarini (18th c.). The Chiesa di San Placido (18th c.) stands in Piazzetta San
Placido. The façade of this church, by Stefano Ittar, has the typical exquisite elegance of baroque
architecture in Catania. Crossing Corso Vittorio Emanuele again, we proceed to Piazza Bellini and
the Teatro Massimo Bellini, designed by Carlo Scala, for which the project was a combination of
previous projects by other architects. The theatre was inaugurated in 1880 with a performance of
Vincenzo Bellini's Norma. Between Via Teatro Massimo and Corso Vittorio is the Collegio Cutelli,
built by Francesco Battaglia (18th c.); the façade is by Stefano Ittar. Palazzo Reburdone, built in
1776 to a design by Francesco Battaglia, stands near the end of the Corso. The courtyard has a
double loggia of vigorous and massive line; the salons inside are elegantly decorated. The Corso
ends at Piazza dei Martiri, in the middle of which stands a column bearing a statue of St Agata,
ordered by the Senate to be made (1743) after Catania narrowly escaped an epidemic of plague.
Museums
Castelo Ursino
Emillo Greco
L’Orto Botanico
Museo Civico Belliniano
Casa Museo G.Verga
Acicastello
HISTORY
The town developed around the castle that was built by the Normans in 1076 and ceded by Roger n
to the Bishop of Catania; after the eruption of Etna in 1169, the population increased with the
arrival of inhabitants from neighbouring localities that had been destroyed. The castle later became
the domain of Ruggero di Lauria and it was taken by Frederick II of Aragon in 1397.
MONUMENTS
The castle, which originally was connected to the mainland by a drawx bridge, is built in lava stone,
and it still has the massive aspect of a fortified stronghold, rising sheer above the sea. It contains the
Civic Museum, which covers mineralogy, palaeontology and archaeology.
5
Acireale
HISTORY
The city was probably founded in the mid-14th c. by inhabitants of the coastal area who in order to
be safe from pirate raids took refuge a little further inland and higher up on the flat extent of lava
that dominates the lemon riviera, as it is known today. The name Acireale was given to the town by
Philip IV, king of Spain and Sicily, who made it a direct royal domain. After the earthqake in 1693,
the city was rebuilt to the urbanistic design of the Duke of Camastra, who also redesigned Catania
after the earthquake. The town developed considerably in the first decades of 20th c., with the
opening up of a number of wide streets, which may indeed seem excessive in the general context of
the town but which have proved providential with the increase in traffic. They have allowed, since
their creation, a very rapid and considerable increase in the population.
MONUMENTS
From whatever direction one approaches the town, the first place to visit is the Chiesa di San
Sebastiano (second half 17th c.), with its fine baroque façade and bell-tower, which is not at the side
but in the body of the church, an original architectural arrangement that is common in the Val di
Noto: it is in fact an extension of the façade. The balustrade and the statues are an addition of 1754
by G. B. Marino.Inside there are frescoes by Pietro Paolo Vasta and Vito D’Anna. Vasta was a
skilful painter from the town. which explains why thereare so many signs of his activity at Acireale.
where we find his paintings also in the Chiesa di San Camillo dei Crociferi and the Chiesa del
Suffragio. In one wide baroque square stand the Cathedral, the Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo and
the Town Hall (1659). characterized by finely shaped pilasterstrips, balconies, grotesque corbels
and the palchetto balustrade (an excellent example of 17th c. Sicilian provincial architecture). The
Cathedral dedicated to Our Lady of the Annunciation and to St Venera surprisingly presents itself
with an early 20th c. Neo-Gothic façade; the cathedral was actually built between the 14th and 17th
c. The nave and two aisles are separated by two pillars. St venera, the patron saint of the town, is
represented in a silver statue by Mario d’Angelo (1651), situated in its own distinguished chapel;
the central vault was frescoed in 1905 by Giuseppe Sciuti, a painter born in nearby Zafferana Etnea;
but there are also older frescoes (1736-67) by P. P. Vasta, and some fine sacred objects, e.g. the
silver litter of St venera, and holy water stoups, which testify to the care and affection shown to the
cathedral over the centuries by the faithful. The Zelantea Library and Art Gallery is in Via
Marchese di San Giuliano. The library contains 160,000 volumes, many of which are rare and
valuable. Adjacent to it is the Town Records Office. The Art Gallery is in the same building as the
Archaeological Museum and the Museum of the Risorgimento, in their separate rooms. There are of
course other works of art in this town (as for example the neo-classical interior of the Chiesa dei
Filippini) which we leave visitors to discover for themselves, with the curiosity that distinguishes
them. (A guidebook is not, nor it can ever be, a complete inventory; it has to make choices, which
are always debatable.)
Zafferana Etnea
HISTORY
The town spread around the Priory of San Giacomo, founded in 1387 in the upper part of the Valle
del Bove, the point of confluence of the lava streams from Etna's E craters which frequently have
destroyed it. The town has always been refounded, and now it is a summer resort where people
come to enjoy the bracing air, the mildness of the climate, and the beauty of the landscapes towards
both the volcano and the sea.
MONUMENTS
The Chiesa Madre, with its baroque façade, is in Piazza Umberto I; inside it there is a painting,
Joseph and Child, by Giuseppe Sciuti, who was born at Zafferana. The Town Hall is in the same
square; it contains two other works by Sciuti, The Arts and The Eruption of Etna in 1852, which is a
6
standard carried in procession around the town on the anniversary of the eruption (in 1852 the lava
stream halted on the outskirts of the town, the same in 1992).
Giarre
HISTORY
The Chalcidian colony of Callipoli (founded 7th c. BC) was probably situated in the territory of
Giarre. The modem town, which was part of the county of Mascali until 1815, expanded
considerably in the second half of the 19th c. The name Giarre is thought to derive from giare (jars)
which contained the tithes paid to the Bishop of Catania.
MONUMENTS
The town centre consists of Via Gallipoli and the square with the Duomo, a grandiose magnificent
neoclassical building dedicated to St Isidoro Agricola. Work began on it in 1794. It has a rusticated
façade, an ample portico, two square-based campaniles and a cupola with a tambour and windows.
Pietro Valenti's original plans (1845) were completed by the Lombard artist Carlo Sada, with some
modifications. The interior is divided by Doric style coupled columns and great arches, and
illuminated by floods of light pouring through the windows.
Militello
HISTORY
According to tradition the town was founded by the Roman Consul Marcellus, during the siege of
Syracuse in 214 BC, but more likely the original nucleus of the town was a Byzantine hamlet which
expanded under the Arabs and in the feudal period, first belonging to the Barresi family and after
1567 to the Brancifortes, who took the title of Marquis. It was seriously damaged by the earthquake
in 1693 and immediately rebuilt on the same site.
MONUMENTS
The principal buildings in this little town are baroque in inspiration, as for example the Palazzi
Baldanza, Baldanza-Denaro, Maiorana (or dei Leoni, because of the lions at the corner), Rametta,
Reburdone, and Reforgiato; as also the churches. In Piazza Municipio we can see San Benedetto,
designed in 1623 by the Catania architect Valeriano de Franchis, with its high façade (1725); Latincross in plan, it has a marble high altar, a wooden choir with 40 episodes from the life of St
Benedict, and a painting, St Benedict giving the Rule of the Order, by G. B. Baldanza, a local artist
(1646). The Chiesa Madre, San Nicolò e SS. Salvatore, in Via Matrice, is a church of considerable
size, with a lofty cupola (early 20th c.), 18th c. stuccos and paintings and a baroque wooden
crucifix. Beside the Chiesa Madre is the Museo di San Nicolò. The Museum (20 rooms) contains
numerous objets d'art and precious ornaments of the 17th and 18th c. The Oratorio di Santa Maria
della Catena, in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, has some late 16th c. architectural features, a coffered
ceiling and gilded baroque stuccos. There is a delightful Renaissance chapel in the Chiesa di
Sant'Antonio di Padova, in Via Carrera. The Chiesa di Santa Maria della Valle, (c. 1722), has a
massive campanile; the church has a nave and two aisles and a painting by Olivio Sozzi, The
Nativity, over the high altar; another painting, The Birth of Jesus, is attributed to Andrea della
Robbia. Two canvases by Filippo Paladino, St Charles Borromeo (1612) and Virgin and Saints, are
in the Chiesa di San Francesco di Assisi or dei Cappuccini. Outside the town there is a late Gothic
church, Santa Maria La Vetere, with a portico and columns supported by lions, a portai with Sibyls
and prophets, and a sculpture, Madonna and Child, in the lunette.
Grammichele
HISTORY
Grammichele is of ancient Sicel-Greek origin: the town of Echetla, mentioned by Diodorus, was
situated at nearby Terravecchia, the site of the ancient Occhiolà, where archaeological excavations
have brought to light pre-Greek items, possibly belonging to the indigenous city of Echetla, which
was later Hellenized; a necropolis (6th-5th c. BC) has also been explored. The township of Occhiolà
developed in the Middle Ages but was destroyed by the earthquake in 1693. Prince Carlo Maria
7
Carafa Branciforte di Butera e di Roccella rebuilt the town, giving it its present name, on the hill
known as the Piano degli Asfodeli (Plain of the Asphodels).
MONUMENTS
The l8th c. Chiesa Madre stands in the central square, an elegant structure full of light and air.
Nearby is the late 19th c. Palazzo Comunale, designed by the architect Carlo Sada.
Mirabella
HISTORY
The town was founded by Giuseppe Maria Paternò, Baron of Raddusa, in 1610, taking its name
from his second wife, Eleonora Mirabella; originally the town was in the Baldo fief, but his
successor transferred it in 1635 to the fief of Imbaccari in order to escape the malaria that plagued
the lower areas. It belonged to the Paternos until the 17th c., then to the Trigonas, and from 1737 to
the Princes of Biscari who were its lords until 1825.
MONUMENTS
The town has a regular chessboard layout. The outstanding architectural element, overshadowing
the modest houses, is the 17th c. Palazzo Biscari, built by Giacinto Paternò in the upper part of the
town and restructured in the 18th c. In Piazza Vespri, at the top of an ancient ramp of stairs, is the
Chiesa Madre, also baroque, rebuilt after the earthquake in 1693; dedicated to the Madonna delle
Grazie, it has a baroque façade distributed on three orders, with a false loggia above.
Caltagirone
HISTORY
Caltagirone takes its name from an Arabic expression (qal’at-al-ganom) meaning castle of the
genies (spirits believed to dwell in the surrounding caves). The necropolises in the country areas of
Montagna and degli Angeli, dating from the 2nd millennium BC, together with numerous findings
from the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age, are evidence that the territory was inhabited in
prehistoric times. A Sicel settlement has been identified on Monte San Mauro, SW of the modern
town. The Arabs built a castle here which was attacked in 1030 by a group of Ligurians led by the
Byzantine general George Maniakes -the local dialect still has some Ligurian traces. The town
flourished under the Normans and the Swabians and became a centre for the production of
ceramics. The earthquake in 1693 necessitated a reconstruction that was the work of a number of
skilful baroque architects, including Gagliardi, Marvuglia and Bonajuto.
MONUMENTS
Entering Caltagirone from the south, we come along via Burgio and via Arcoleo and find ourselves
in via Roma at the Town Gardens, designed in 1850 by the architect G. B. Filippo Basile and, the
scenographic little theatre, by the architect Natale Bonajuto (18th c.), which makes a most original
architectural use of ceramics. The teatrino, the town's belvedere, is also the entrance to the Museo
della Ceramica, created in 1965. Its seven rooms contain a collection of ceramics from all over
Sicily, and in particular from workshops in Palermo, Sciacca, Burgio, Trapani, Collesano and of
course Caltagirone. Two very interesting rooms contain mediaeval ceramics and 18th and 19th c.
items, along with figurines representing scenes and customs of peasant life: particularly precious are
those from the 19th c. Bongiovanni-Vaccaro workshop. Copies of vases from this workshop are to
be found in the Town Gardens, together with ceramic sculptures by Gianni Ballarò and Nicolò
Barrano; on the SW side of the gardens is the 18th c. Flora fountain by Camillo Camilliani; the
bandstand, in Moorish style with majolica decorations, is a modern work by Nino Ragona. Nearly
everthing in this town speaks the language of majolica. For example, just a little further along Via
Roma, there is the ceramic terrace of the House of Benedetto Ventimiglia, an 18th c. majolica artist.
Passing the Chiesa di San Francesco di Paola, on the left and San Francesco di Assisi (baroque,
although the sacristy is Gothic in style) on the right, we reach the Church of Sant'Agata and the
Civic Museum, in the building that once was the Bourbon prison, square and solernn, built by
Bonajuto in 1782. The Museum contains various prehistoric and historic material, coins, sculptures
and paintings, some by respectable local artists like the brothers Giuseppe and Francesco Vaccaro.
8
We now see a neoclassical palazzo, also by Bonajuto (1783), used today as the head-office of the
Banco di Sicilia. Nearby is the Cathedral dedicated to San Giuliano, of Norrnan origin, with a fine
and distinguished art nouveau façade designed by Saverio Gulli (early 20th c.). Internally the
Cathedral is Latin-cross in plan, with pillars between the nave and the two aisles. At the sides are
paintings by Francesco and Giuseppe Vaccaro: on the right, St Elysius, St Febronia, St James and
The Dispute in the Temple; on the left, St Cajetan of Thiene and Mary Magdalene. There are also a
15th c. wooden crucifix, a Madonna and Child (1594), after the style of Gagini, a Christ Dead, a
painting on wood by Giuseppe Vaccaro (1848), and the baroque wooden choir which once belonged
to the Church of San Bonaventura. Other expressions of art nouveau style at Caltagirone are the
works of Saverio Fragapane, a pupil of Basile, who from 1908 on, following the renovation
programmes of the priest and politician Don Sturzo, designed the long straight thoroughfare Via
Roma- Via Arcoleo, the olive-oil factory near the station, Villino Gravina, Villino Favitta, etc.
Proceeding along the same road where the Cathedral is, we come to a square where we can see the
19th c. Town Hall, the Corte Capitaniale by Antonuzzo and Giandomenico Gagini, the 15th c.
Palazzo Senatorio, which formerly was used as the Town. Theatre and now houses the Galleria
Sturzo. Nearby is the Chiesa del Gesù (1570), adjacent to the old Jesuit College, now the Palazzo
degli Studi; the church has a single nave: the Pietà by Filippo Paladino (1607) and Christ's Nativity
by Polidoro da Caravaggio (16th c.) are interesting to see. A triptych by Paladino, (The Virgin
Odigitria, The Adoration of the Magi and Saints Chiara, Lucia and Agata), is a little further on in
the Chiesa dei Cappuccini Nuovi, which also possesses a valuable Treasury in the sacristy and a
rich picture gallery. We are now almost at the starting- point, near this square, of the Scala di Santa
Maria del Monte, the famous long straight flight of steps, all decorated with coloured majolica and
and illuminated by characteristic lanterns on 24 and 25 July, the festivity of the patron saint. The
stairs were built in 1608 by the architect Giuseppe Giacalone in order to join the upper and the
lower parts of the town. We can either climb the stairway (142 steps) or reach the upper town by
way of the side streets and then walk down it. Other sights to see are: Santa Maria del Monte,
founded in the 12th c.; the Istituto d'Arte per la Ceramica (lnstitute of Ceramic Art); the Chiesa di
San Giacomo (Norman, rebuilt in 1694-1708, with the bas-relief town coat of arms in the central
door, various sculptures by the Gagini’s, 16th c., and a stupendous altar arch, etc.).
Adrano
HISTORY
The town of Adrano, or Adranon, was founded according to Diodorus by Dionysius I, the tyrant of
Syracuse near a temple to the god Hadranus, the personification of the volcano Etna. At
Cartalemme it is possible to see the cyclopean walls, set up on the occasion of the 95th Olympiad.
The territory was inhabited in prehistoric times, as testified by numerous archaeological finds
(pottery, stones, metals, bones) at Fogliuta, Naviccia, Pulica and Mendolito, now in the Syracuse
Archaeological Museum. The S part of the Sicel-Greek city (walls, towers and necropolis), dating
from the 9th-5th c. BC, has been excavated at Mendolito. Adranon was in fact a military stronghold
guarding a very important crossroads between Enna and Gela to the E and Catania, Naxos and
Messina to the W. In 344 the city took the side of Timoleon (a Greek from Corinth, who carne to
help the Syracusans against the tyranny of Dionysius II, see Syracuse). Victorious, Adranon
achieved political independence, which was suppressed 40 years later by Agathocles, the new tyrant
of Syracuse. A period of instability followed until Hieron II freed the city from the Mamertines and
re-submitted it to Syracuse. During the First Punic War the Romans captured and destroyed
Adranon; the new city had the Latin name of Hadranum, and it was declared a stipendiary city.
Little is known of the city's history , as of so many others, in the Imperial, Byzantine and Gothic
periods; it flourished again under the Arabs, with the name of Adornù, later to become Adernò and
also Adernone, and Adrano in 1927; but in between times, there were the vicissitudes of the
Norman period (raised to the level of County by Count Roger, it passed to his niece Adelaide, and
then to her son Adam) and of the feudal age: in the 14th c. the County belonged to Matteo Sclafani
and then to the Moncadas. The earthquake in 1693 seriously damaged the town. Exactly 250 years.
9
later, in 1943, it was further damaged during the violent battles between the Allied Forces and the
Germans in this area of Sicily, part of the town being razed to the ground. (An American lieutenant
wrote a novel at the end of the war: "A Bell for Adano".)
MONUMENTS
We enter the town and the first historic trace we find is of the Normans, in a street to the right, Via
Umberto I. This is the Castle-Tower , thought to have been built in the II th c. by Count Roger. It is
square in shape and of severe and massive aspect, as befits a fortified building; it stands on a solid
stone base, reinforced at the comers, and is 34 m in height; standing guard at the entrance, at the
foot of a stairway, are two stone lions, with the coats of arms of the Sclafanis and the Moncadas.
The castle now houses Adrano Archaeological Museum, which has Neolithic and Bronze Age
exhibits in the three ground floor rooms; other finds (from Mendolito, Adranon and Etna) are on the
2nd and 3rd floors. Nearby the Chiesa Madre, dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, is also
Norman in origin, but it under went various modifications and restoration work until 1811. The
façade was redone in the 20th c. Among the decorative elements in the interior there are interesting
paintings by the "Zoppo di Gangi" on the right and left of the transept (Solomon and Gabriel, Our
Lady of the Annunciation and David). We can now move on to the Chiesa di Santa Lucia, in Via
Roma (the enormous monastery is now a school), founded by Countess Adelaide in 1156 and
rebuilt in 1775; the church has an imposing façade on three orders and a fine colonnaded portal. It is
elliptical in plan and elegantly decorated; the choir is rococo and in the first chapel on the right
there is a painting by the 19th c. Catania painter Giuseppe Rapisarda, St Lucy being conducted to
the place of torture. The Chiesa del Rosario is late 18th c.; the adjacent Dominican Convent is
earlier (1596). In the Chiesa di San Francesco, in Via Catena, there is an interesting wooden
polychrome crucifix by Fra' Umile da Petralia (17th c.), who dedicated his life and his art to this
oftrepeated form of religious production. San Francesco also contains traces of the boundary wall of
the ancient city. Out of town over the nearby River Simeto, we can see the Ponte dei Saraceni
(Saracens' Bridge), probably in fact 14th c., with unequal arches, and the Ponte acquedotto dei
Biscari (Biscari aqueduct bridge), 720 m long and with 31 arches, built in 1761 and redone 30 years
later: it carried precious water to the lands of the Ragana fief.
Paterno
HISTORY
This is the possible site of the ancient city of Gerentis Hybla, wellknown in antiquity becauseofits
Temple of Venus, described in the anonymous Latin poem "Pervigilium Veneris", The Vigil of
Venus. The modern town was founded when, in 1072, the Normans built a castle here, later
assigned to Count Enrico di Policastro.
MONUMENTS
The Via Matrice leads to the lava rock-spur where we can still admire the fine Castle and the old
Chiesa Madre, Santa Maria dell'Alto, of Norman origin but restructured in the 14th c. It has a nave
and two aisles, paved with tiles, an 18th c. wooden crucifix in an altarpiece, a black Madonna by a
13th-14th c. local artist, and carved wooden stalls in the presbytery . Nearby are the new Chiesa del
Convento di San Francesco, in the same place of the 15th c. Franco-Gothic style church, pulled
down, and the Chiesa di Cristo al Monte or dei Bianchi, with baroque decorations and architectural
motifs. The Castle, which is open to the public, is in an excellent state of repair; 34 m in height, it
has a base measuring 24.30 x 18 m and walls 2.60 m thick; the fine mullioned twolight windows w
ere created between the 13th and 14th c.; the chapel, with religious frescoes, is on the ground floor;
the arms room is on the first floor; and the salon (or gallery) and noble rooms are on the second
floor. From here there is a splendid view of the town and the Plain of Catania, Etna, and the Simeto
Valley as far as the hills of Centuripe. This monument, unimaginably rich in noble history, was
downgraded for many centuries to the level of a prison, and graffiti written by the inmates are just
visible on the walls. A little below the castle is the Chiesa di Santa Maria deIla Valle di Josafat or
10
della Gancia, built by Countess Adelaide in 1072; it has a fine 14th c. little Gothic portal, a 16th c.
wooden ceiling, and a small perforated wooden door leading to the sacristy. The new Chiesa Madre
della SS. Annunziata or del Monastero in the central Piazza Indipendenza contains paintings of
various centuries and a polychrome wooden statue of Christ at the column. The monumental Chiesa
di Santa Barbara, in 18th c. neoclassical style, in the square of the same name, preserves the litter of
St Barbara, the patron saint of the town.
Bronte
HISTORY
In the Middle Ages it was one of 24 hamlets in the area and it belonged to the powerful Benedictine
Monastery at Maniace. In 1520 Charles V united the hamlets and founded the town of Bronte,
which was devastated by Etna in 1651, 1832 and 1843. In 1799 Ferdinand III removed Bronte from
the possession of its owner at the time, Palermo Hospital, and created it a Duchy, which he
bestowed upon Horatio Nelson out of gratitude for restoring him to the throne of Naples. The town
is still the subject of heated historical debate regarding to the popular riot in 1860 and the repression
ordered by Garibaldi's officer Nino Bixio, controversial episodes known as "i fatti di Bronte" ("the
Bronte affair").
MONUMENTS
The Castle, about 13 km from Bronte, is more precisely a palace, the great palace of the former
Benedictine Abbey, built in about 1173 by Margaret, wife of William I, on the spot where in 1040
George Maniakes had defeated the Arabs (it is in fact also called Castello di Maniace). It is
surrounded by a fine park and an ancient boundary wall. The Norman church is especially worth
seeing: it has a nave and two aisles, pointed arches, basalt columns, the original wooden ceiling and
a fine decorated portal in the façade. In the town, the Chiesa Madre, dedicated to the Holy Trinity,
has an original portal on the left side. The church is in basilica style; there is a notable wooden
crucifix dating from 1505. The Chiesa dell'Annunziata (1535) is embellished internally by a marble
sculpture of The Annunciation (1541), justifiably attributed to Antonello Gagini. Another work of
the Gagini school, the Madonna delle Catene, is in the Chiesa di Santa Maria del Soccorso. In Corso
Umberto the visitor will be impressed by a monumental palace with a rococo façade: this is the
Collegio Capizzi, built in 1774-79, a much appreciated educational institute. To the side is the
Chiesa del Sacro Cuore.
Maniace
HISTORY
The village developed around Maniace Abbey, built in 1173 by Queen Margaret of Navarre, mother
of William the Good, on the spot where the Byzantine general George Maniakes defeated the
Muslims in 1040. In 1799 the fief and the abbey (also known as the Castle) were given by
Ferdinand III of Sicily to Admiral Nelson for his help in repressing the riots in Naples. Until 1981 it
was part of the Commune of Bronte.
Randazzo
HISTORY
The town was founded in Byzantine times in a territory already settled also by the Sicels, and it
assumed considerable importance in the 13th and 14th c. It was the main stronghold of Peter of
Aragon during the War of the Sicilian Vespers, and in 1305 Frederick II of Aragon chose it as his
summer residence. It was successively populated by Greek, Latin and Lombard immigrants, who
until the 16th c. spoke three distinct dialects (and until 1916 had three different cathedrals in three
separate quarters). At the end of the 16th c., when the nobles abandoned Randazzo and moved to
the more fertile lands down in the plain, the town began to decline. The foundation by Charles V of
the nearby town of Bronte (1537) had also slowed down Randazzo's growth and indeed caused a
11
temporary depression, followed by a reaction and an expansion of the town beyond its old boundary
walls.
MONUMENTS
The Museo Vagliasindi, in Piazza Rabata, fulfils this function most admirably, with its prehistoric,
Greek and Byzantine testimonies (particularly ceramics and coins). Passing through this entrance,
the 13th c. Porta Aragonese, with its coats of arms of the Aragon dynasty from which it takes its
name, we reach Piazza Basilica and the Chiesa di Santa Maria, the Cathedral, first constructed in
the early 13th c. and several times rebuilt. It is severe in aspect, but graced by a coping of hanging
arches; the façade and bell-tower are 19th c. reconstructions; to the left, the agile portal is probably
16th c. ; to the right, the splendid 15th c. Gothic-Catalan portal, with ogival arches, bears a little
marble Madonna of the Pisa school in the lunette. Inside the church we have a nave and two aisles,
divided by lavastone columns dating from the original building; the transept and cupola are 18th c.
additions by the architect Venanzio Marvuglia. The paintings are by various artists: Giuseppe
Velasquez of Palermo (The Holy Family, The Assumption, The Coronation of the Virgin, The
Martyrdom of St Andrew, The Annunciation, all early 19th c.); the Fleming Van Houbraken
(Lament of Christ, 17th c.); Daniele Leone (Martyrdom of St Sebastian, 1614); Girolamo Alibrandi,
in the right-hand aisle: Randazzo saved from the volcano by the intercession of the Virgin Mary
(l6th c.), which gives us a view of the town at the time. Behind the high altar, decorated with
variegated and inlaid marble, is a 13th c. Byzantine-style fresco, the Madonna Enthroned and Child,
resplendent again after being restored. The Treasury of the church contains valuable objects of gold,
silver and enamel. And now, walking down Via degli Archi and Via Umberto I, we come to San
Nicola, founded in the 14th c., the largest church in Randazzo, the site of the town assemblies under
the Aragonese, and formerly the Lombard cathedral. It has a fine 17th c. façade with an 18th c. belltower; of the originalI church we can still see the posterior part, with the polygonal apse decorated
with a circle of hanging arches and battlements. Internally, in addition to the powerful square
columns (1605), we can see the late-Gothic baptismal font, and a polychrome sculpture of St
Nicholas in his Chair, a masterpiece signed by Antonello Gagini (1605), with stories of the Saint at
the base. There are other sculptures by both Antonello and Giacomo Gagini (16th c.) and an early
painting by the Zoppo di Gangi, St Gregory. The red-marble baptismal font (1447) is a vigorous
work by Angelo Riccio, a sculptor from Messina. The church Treasury has works of great aesthetic
value: a magnificent Procession Cross (1498), by Michele Gambino, and a resplendent 17th c. pyx.
Outside the church of San Nicola the statue of the cyclops Piracmone (or of some other giant or
Sicel hero), that was damaged, like the church, in World War II, represents Old Randazzo and
symbolizes, with the three animals surrounding it, the three ethnic groups of Randazzo and their
respective civilizations: the eagle of the Latins, the snake of the Greeks, and the lion of the
Lombards and Piedmontese (the local dialect stilI preserves elements reflecting these various
ancient origins). Continuing along Via Duca degli Abruzzi we come to the Chiesa di San Martino,
built between the 13th and 14th c. and subsequently much altered. The façade is typically 17th c.
while the frieze has 12th c. panels with figures of saints; the elegant campanile is 14th c., with a
series of single-light windows, bichromatic lavastone and limestone decoration, and three-light
windows in the third order. The typically Renaissance interior is divided into a nave and two aisles
by Tuscan-order columns; there are works of the Gagini school, the Madonna delle Grazie (by
Vincenzo Gagini) and among the paintings a polyptych attributed to Antonello da Saliba. Along the
streets that we have seen and in the sidestreets there are numerous palaces notable either for their
history or for their beauty: Palazzo Lanza, just beyond Santa Maria, at the beginning of Via
Umberto I; Palazzo Scala (original portal and mullioned twolight windows), which was inhabited
by all the rulers of Sicily, from the Normans to Charles V; and Palazzo Finocchiaro(1509), in Via
Duca degli Abruzzi, opposite San Nicola. The Civic Natural Science Museum (Via Beccarini, 2)
was created in 1983; it contains the interesting Priolo omithological collection and the Lino natural
history collection.
12
Syracuse
HISTORY
The city of Syracuse, in a splendid position in the E part of the Sici1ian coast, stretches out over the
sea with the island of Ortygia, where the major testimonies of its glorious past are to be found.
Ortygia is connected by a bridge to the mainland, where the modem city extends. According to the
5th c. BC historian Thucydides the ancient city was founded in 734-733 BC by a group of
Corinthian settlers led by the oecist Archias. It took its name from a near. by marsh called Syraka.
Very soon Syracuse became one of the most powerful cities in Sicily. Its expansionist policy began
between the 7th and 6th c. BC and led to the foundation of the colonies of Akrai (663 BC),
Kasmenai (643) and Kamarina (598), which were to assume a role of primary importance in the
defence of the surrounding territory . At first, power was wielded in Syracuse by the Gamoroi
(aristocrats and landowners); subsequently, at the beginning of the 5th c. BC, it was exercised more
democratically. In the mid-th c. the retum of the aristocrats and the establishment of the tyranny of
the Deinomenids of Gela coincided with a period of expansion of the city, which set itself at the
head of the Hellenist settlements of Magna Graecia in the struggle against the Carthaginians,
defeating them at the famous Battle of Himera (480 BC), with the city of Agrigento as an ally. In
the second phase of the Peloponnesian War Athens, jealous of Syracuse's econornic and military
expansion, launched against it a powerful offensive with a naval expedition led by Nicias Lamachos
and Alcibiades. Syracuse succeeded in defeating the Athenians, who were annihilated on the banks
of the Assinaros., near Eloro (Helorus). The architect of the victory was the democratic faction,
which took control of the town. But the Carthaginians retumed to the attack and destroyed Selinunte
(409 BC), compelling Syracuse to an agreed surrender . When Dionysius I came to power (405
BC), the Carthaginian offensive started again but was held back by a pestilence which proved to be
a prelude to peace. Clashes continued in the following years until a new pact was agreed upon in
392: Dionysius obtained control of the Sicel toWns, which previously had been independent;
Carthage kept its domination of W Sicily. This was the moment of Syracuse's greatest splendour,
and it extended the sphere of its influence as far as S and Central Italy. On Dionysius' death he was
succeeded by his son Dionysius II. New intemal conflicts broke out and the Syracusans tumed for
help against the tyrant to their mother-city Corinth, which in 344 despatched to Sicily an expedition
under Timoleon. The Corinthian leader defeated Dionysius and peace terms were agreed. In 339
Timoleon had to face an offensive by the Carthaginians which ended in their debacle near the River
Krimisos (341 BC). Timoleon now devoted himself to the restoration of order in Sicily, the
recolonization of the countryside, and the strengthening of the Greek element, while maintaining a
moderate political stance. He was succeeded on his death by Agathocles, the leader of the radical
13
democratic party, who got rid of the oligarchs and in 307, during yet another war with the
Carthaginians, adopted the title of King. One year lat er, having won the war, he became master of
the whole island. Following his death he was succeeded by Hieron II, who remained in power for
over 50 years (269-215 BC). This was the period of the appearance of the Romans on the stage of
history. They strove to limit Syracuse's independence to such a next enxtent that Hieron, realizing
their superior strength, eventually declared himself their ally. His successor Hieronymus entered
instead into an alliance with the Carthaginians but in the end had to yield to the Romans who
conquered and sacked Syracuse in 213 BC and made it part of the Province of Sicily, permitting it
however to maintain the role of capital city. After the fall of Rome Syracuse followed the
alternating vicissitudes of Sicily; it was occupied by the Vandals, Goths and Byzantines, until in
878 it fell into the hands of the Muslims. Under the Normans and Swabians Syracuse, though
ceding the role of capital city to Palermo, continued to be of considerable importance. It also
benefited from an ample restructuring of the town. Maniàce Castle is an admirable example of
architecture of the epoch of Frederick II and is at the same time a symbol of his military power and
of the centralization of the state ef fected by this sovereign. Under the Angevin domination
Syracuse became the capital of an extensive territory with nine communes. In this period a number
of elegant baronial residences, churches and convents were built, including the convents of Santa
Lucia, San Benedetto and L 'Annunziata. Between the 16th and 17th c., the Spanish age, the
presence of the Carmelite Jesuits led to further transformations of the city skyline, according to the
dictates of the new baroque style, which in Syracuse however took on specific and characteristic
connotations, and imposing bastions were built all around the city, mainly because of the pressing
Turkish threat. After the earthquake in 1693 Syracuse was partially reconstructed, the work
proceeding throughout the 18th c. Between the 18th and 19th c. there were considerable urbanistic
and cultural transformations; many religious buildings were confiscated and destined to public use.
This process was accentuated even more after the unificatjon of Italy, when it was decided to
demolish the Spanish walls, and the city began to expand in land. New quarters arose which
increasingly underlined the great divide between the ancjent city and the modern city. A
prograrnme of recovery is now being followed which by means of conservati ve restoration
procedures is saving and reviving the most significant testimonies of the city' s ancient past.
MONUMENTS
It is advisable to begin our visit of Syracuse from the island of Ortygia, the nucleus of the ancient
city. Crossing the bridge joining Ortygia to the mainland, we come to the remains of the Temple
dedicated to Apollo, as testified by an inscription discovered on a step. The tempie, brought to
lightin the decade 1930-40, presents two columns on the S side, with part of the epistyle and
fragments of the columns on the E side; originally, as in other temples of the archaic age, there were
six columns on the short sides and 17 on the long ones (the cella was divided into aisles by
columns, without any opisthodomos), and it was covered by polychrome clay decorations (some
fragments are preserved in the Archaeological Museum). The Tempie of Apollo, in Byzantine
times, was a Christian church; later, under the Muslims, it was a mosque . Proceeding S we pass the
18th c. Chiesa di San Paolo and enter Corso Matteotti; then, passing Palazzo Cireco, the seat of the
Natjonal Institute of Ancjent Drama, and the 14th c. Chiesa di San Cristoforo, rebuilt in the 18th c.,
we come to the 19th c. Piazza Archimede, the meeting-point of the city's two main thoroughfares
(Via Maestranza and Via Roma) and the centre of Ortygia. The square, with the Fountain of
Artemis in the middle, is bounded by buildings of considerable artistic merit such as the Palazzo
dell'Orologio, the seat of the Banca d'Italia, the 16th c. Palazzo Lanza Buccheri and, to the N, the
Palazzo del Banco di Sicilia, built in 1928. From the square, proceeding up Via Montalto, we reach
Palazzo Mergulese-Montalto, which conserves its fine old facade with a pointed portal and an
aedicule with a Latin inscription bearing the date of construction: 1397. Proceeding along Via
Roma we come to the Chiesa della Concezione, constructed in the 17th c. on the site of a preexisting 14th c. building. It contains some noteworthy items: an 18th c. wooden choir: frescoes in
the vault representing the Glory of Mary, and three interesting paintings by Onofrio Gabriele: The
14
Madonna of the Letter, The Slaughter of the Innocents and The Martyrdom of St Lucy. Adjacent is
a 14th c. building which used to be the Benedictine Convent and which, since the end of the 19th c.,
has been used for offices of the Prefecture. Next wecome to Piazza Duomo. Excavations carried
out here in the early years of the20thc. and in 1963 brought to light testimonies of the presence of
man in the pre-Hellenic and the first Greek Age, together with traces of a great archaic Ionic temple
dating from the end of the 6th c. BC. The great Temple of Athene was built in the 5th c. BC. This is
a Doric edifice with 6 colurnns on the short sides and 14 on the long ones, standing on a high base
with three steps. The cella was preceded by the pronaos and followed by the opisthodomos, both in
antis. In the 7th c. AD the Temple of Athene was converted to a Christian church (its colurnns are
visible in Via Minerva) which was elevated to a Cathedral by Bishop Zosimo, dedicated to
Madonna del Piliere. Under the Norrnans the raised roof of the nave was bui1t and the apses were
decorated with mosaics. The façade was completely rebuilt by the architect Andrea Palma in 172553; it presents two orders of Corinthian-style colurnns. The statues are by Ignazio Marabitti. The
interior is divided into a nave and two aisles - the nave is covered by wooden beams - and has at
the beginning two 19th c. holy water stoups and at the end two ambos constructed in 1926 in
Romanesque style. At the entrance and along the nave and aisles incorporated in the waIIs we can
see the colurnns of the TempIe of Athene. Three chapels open on to the right-hand aisle: the first
contains a precious 12th-I3th c. font with a marble basin, decorated with bronze lion- cubs; adjacent
is the 18th c. Chapel of Santa Lucia, where we can see a fine 16th c. silver statue of St Lucy
standing on a chest embellished with splendid basreliefs. The walIs of the last chapel, the Chapel of
the Sacrament, are covered in limestone and there are frescoes showing scenes from the Old
Testament in the vau1ts. Above the marble altar, with a representation of 278 The Last Supper,
there is a ciborium by Luigi Vanvitelli. At the end of the aisle there is a little room containing some
fine paintings by Giuseppe Crestadoro. The Chapel of the Crucifix was built in the 18thc. Where the
old right- hand aisle used to be. The furnishings of this chapel are conserved in the Cathedral
Treasury. Adjacent is the presbytery, which was profoundly altered in 1659, when a baroque altar
was placed here, and above all in 1693, after the earthquake, when the choir was completed and the
great cupola raised. At the far end, in the last apse remaining, we can see a statue of the Madonna
della Neve, by Antonello Gagini, 1512. Along this aisle there are other statues of Saints: by the
Gaginis and their school. The Archbishop's Pa1ace, adjacent to the S side of the Cathedral, was
built in elegant and airy style in the early 17th c. Its present aspect is however due to 18th c.
modifications and later additions in the 19th c. The building houses the important Alagonian
Library, founded in the late 18th c. Palazzo Vermexio, the seat of the Town Hall, stands on the
comer with Via Minerva. The Palace, which survived the 1693 earthquake, still preserves its
original features in the lower part. The ruins of a 5th c. BC Ionic temple have been found here. In a
room on the ground floor is a display of the history of the place and of the phases and results of the
excavations. In the same square are Palazzo Interlandi and Palazzo Francica Nava, of which some
origina116th c. features still remain (part of this building is in Via Landolina). Nearby is the
powerful mass of Palazzo Beneventano del Bosco, dating from the Middle Ages but considerably
a1tered between 1779 and 1788; it has a fine courtyard. In the S part of the square is the Chiesa di
Santa Lucia alla Badìa, rebuilt after 1693 with ample projecting baroque forms. The single hall
interior is richly decorated with stuccos, frescoes and marblework. Leaving Piazza Duomo by way
of Via Pichera1i we come to Piazzetta San Rocco. This little square is characterized by the l5th c.
Palazzo Migliaccio, which is distinguished by its refined lava inlay decorations. A wide terrace
opens out here, offering a splendid panorama. Also here is the celebrated Fountain of Arethusa,
planted with papyrus. Legend has it that the nymph Arethusa was transformed by Artemis into a
river in order to escape the passion of Alpheus. From the Fountain of Arethusa, we go a1ong the
promenade by the sea, up Via del Collegio, and reach the Chiesa del CoIIegio dei Gesuiti, a rich
and majestic building in pure baroque architectura1 style. The church contains splendid choir sta1ls and marbles in the high a1tar, with a silver antependium. From here Via Cavour leads us
immediately to Via Santa Maria dei Miracoli and the 13th c. Church of the same name. Opposite
the promenade is the Porto Grande, which from remotest antiquity has been a busy commercia1
15
port. On the extreme point of the Ortygia peninsula stands Maniàce Castle, a splendid example of
architecture of the days of Frederick II. The building, strong and massive, is absolutely square in
plan and has round towers at the four comers. It has a splendid pointed-arch portal decorated with
marbles of various colour. The Spanish coat of arms is at the top of the arch. The interior still
preserves parts of its original layout. From here we walk up the Ortygia seafront to the 18th c.
Chiesa dello Spirito Santo. Leaving the seafront, we follow Via Capodieci as far as the Chiesa di
San Benedetto, builtin the 16th c. and redesigned after the 1693 earthquake. In the high altar there
is an interesting painting, The Death of St Benedict, in Caravaggio style, by Mario Minniti, a local
artist. Here, in what used to be the Convent of San Benedetto, is the Galleria Regionale. The
building consists of the 14th c. Palazzo Parisio and the larger 13th c. Palazzo Bellomo, which gives
the Gallery its narne. The ground floor rooms contain works of sculpture. In particular, Room 3 has
an aedicule attributed to Francesco Laurana, representing The Madonna and Child, and a statue,
The Madonna of the Bullfinch, by Domenico Gagini. Room 4 contains two splendid l8th c.
carriages. On the first floor, among a number of paintings, is The Annunciation, by Antonello da
Messina, and The Burial of St Lucy, by Caravaggio. There are a1so church vestments, items of
silver (including a splendid 18th c. reliquary of St Ursula), Christmas cribs, and Sicilian and
Muslim ceramics. Leaving Pa1azzo Bellomo we fol1ow Via Roma to the crossroads with Via
Maestranza: ha1f way along this street is the Chiesa di San Francesco, with an unusual convex
façade. The church is of 14thc. origin, butonly a portal remains of that period. Between the l5th and
18th c. it underwent a number of modifications. The stucco decorations in the interior and the
frescoes on the ceiling are late 18th c. As we proceed a1ong Via Maestranza we pass some
imposing pa1aces: Palazzi Bufardeci, Zappata-Gargallo (15th c. but redesigned in the baroque age),
Bonanno and Impellizzeri, the façades of which are richly decorative. We must now leave Ortygia
to reach the other end of the city, the modem part, which also possesses significant testimonies of
ancient Greece. It is advisable first of all to have an overall view of the city from above. Climbing
the slopes of the Epipolae, the vast plateau that dominates the city, we come to the Castle of
Euryalus, on the highest point. Built by Dionysius the Elder between the end of the 5th and the
beginning of the 4th c. BC, it is a most interesting exarnple of ancient military architecture. It is
protected on the most exposed W side by three deep ditches, with a series of ingenious underground
passages and 280 narrow tunnels that enabled the defending soldiers to reorganize without being
seen by the enemy and rapidly confront him. From the Castle we can follow a stretch of walls
thatsurrounded the city and reach the Greek stairway or Hexpylon, the ancient entrance to the city.
Descending from the Epipolae and entering the city by way of Via Necropoli Gratticelli, we soon
come to Viale Rizzo, which flanks the monumental park of the Neapolis, where the most interesting
edifices of Graeco - Roman Syracuse are to be seen. Here stands the Roman amphitheatre, a
majestic construction dating fromthe lstc.BC (or, according to others, the 3rd-4th c. AD). It is
elliptic in plan, with an outer portico. Two entrances, N and S, lead into the arena, which is
surrounded by a high podium; behind this there is a covered corridor, at which point the tiers of
seats for the spectators begin to rise. In the centre of the arena there is a vast underground cavity
that was used as the amphitheatre storehouse. Next to this is the Altar of Hieron, a great altar one
stadium long ( 198 me- tres), built by Hieron Il for the public celebration of animal sacrifices.
Opposite the Altar are the Greek Theatre and the latomìe. The Theatre, one of the most splendid of
its kind, played an extremely important role in the city's cultural life. Ancient sources mention the
existence of a theatre in Syracuse from the mid- 5th c. The structure we see today dates from the
time of Hieron Il (3rd c. BC). The cavea is one of the largest in the Greek world: 67 rows, divided
into 9 sections with 8 aisles for access to the seats. In the lower part there were the semicircular
orchestra and the scena, of which only a few traces remain. In Roman times the theatre was much
altered, to adapt it to the style of Roman theatres and their circus games. The Theatre is still used:
every year a cycle of plays is performed before large audiences attracted by the considerable
cultural interest, as well as by the evocative natural scenery and the particular atmosphere. Near the
theatre are the latomie, great stone quarries known since time irnrnemorial and one of Syracuse's
most characteristic features. According to Thucydides, they were also used as a prison. This is
16
confirmed by Cicero, who exalted their magnificence and their depth. W of the theatre is the largest
latomìa, that of Paradiso, in some points 45 metres deep. But the most celebrated latomìa is the
Orecchio di Dionisio (Ear of Dionysius), with its pointed vaulted roof. It was given this name by
Caravaggio, who visited it in 1586 and created the legend that the tyrant Dionysius used to exploit
the particular acoustics of the cave in order to eavesdrop on the whisperings of his prisoners.
Nearby is the Grotta dei Cordari (Rope-makers' Cave), so called be- cause of the trade that used to
be carried out here. From here we proceed to the Grotta del Salnitro (Saltpetre Cave) and the
Intagliatella latomìa, which leads through an archway cut out of the rock to the Latomìa di Santa
Vènera, smaller than the others but particularly evocative because of the luxuriant vegetation all
around. It is also interesting to visit the nearby Grotticelli necropolis, with its Greek, Hellenistic and
Roman Imperial Age tombs. One of these is the so-called Tomb of Archimedes, erroneously
believed to be that of the great scientist of Syracuse. Leaving the Neapolis Park, we take Viale
Augusto and Viale Teòcrito and come to the Chiesa di San Giovanni, built by the Normans,
destroyed by the earthquake in 1693 and later partly restored. A stairway leads to the Crypt of San
Marciano. To the right of the church are the Catacombs of San Giovanni, (4th c. AD), characterized
by a maze of passages and tunnels, with thousands of tombs and occasional frescoes and Christian
symbols. Also in Viale Teòcrito is the Villa Landolina Park, which is the site ofthe Archaeological
Museum dedicated to Paolo Orsi, the great archaeologist who worked for years in Syracuse. Starshaped in layout, it covers 9000 sqm. The three sectors, A, B and C, offer a choice of collections.
There are numerous illurninated display screens, charts and information sheets so that visitors can
view the exhibits in their historical and cultural background and appreciate them more thoroughly.
Sector A has collections from the prehistoric and proto-historic period. The Bronze Age material
includes Mid-Bronze Age (l5th-l3th c. BC) items of the Thapsos culture, with its characteristic
graffito-decorated im- pasto ceramics. The late Bronze Age (13th-9th c. BC) is represented by
material from Caltagirone, Cassibile and also Pantàlica, which was one of the most advanced
civilizations in the period between 1270 and 650 BC, as testified by some items of extraordinarily
fine workrnanship, such as the burnished red ceramics and the refined metal objects, jewels, mirrors
and fibulae. Sector B is devoted to the phenomenon of Greek colonization, with material from
Megara HybIaea and Syracuse. Among the material from Megara, especially noteworthy are an
extraordinary Kourotrophos (nursing mother) in painted limestone (rnid-6th c. BC) and a funeral
statue with an inscription recording the name of the dead man (Samb roditas the doctor, son of
Madrokles). The space devoted to Syracuse begins with the celebrated statue of Venus
Anadyomene, a Roman imitation of a 2nd c. BC originaI. Also displayed here is materia1 from
Ortygia, starting from prehistoric times with an extraordinary succession of cerarnics that gives a
precise idea of the continuity of the presence of man in the area. The most interesting piece of
statuary is a standing male figure, a draped Kouros (5th c. BC). Also worth seeing are: the votive of
ferings found in the area of the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore; a great black-varnished vase with a
dedicatory inscription to Arternis of Pherae; tomb fumishings from the great Syracusan
necropolises; the archaic globuIar ar balloi; the famous stylized little bronze horse (late 8th c. BC);
and numerous proto-Corinthian and Corinthian vases. We next come to the spaces devoted to the
great temples: that of Apollo, the lonic temple, and the Athenaion with some of the architectural
terracotta work that decorated its interior; there are also models of this and two other temples. The
material from extra-urban sanctuaries provides us with valuable information about the relations
between Syracuse and its surrounding territory. Sector C is devoted to materiaI from Syracuse's
sub-colonies, Akrai, Kasmenai and Kamarina, from Helorus, as well as from numerous Hellenized
indigenous centres in E Sicily. The last part of this sector is devoted to Gela and Agrigento. From
Kasmenai comes, among other items, a limestone alto-rilievo representing a Kore with a dove (570560 BC). From Kamarina there is a great clay tempIe acroterion (5th c. BC). From Gela come
extraor- dinary architectural terracottas from temples, numerous ceramics, and an interesting pelike
(a kind of amphora) signed by Polygnotus (440-430 BC). The exhibition concludes with interesting
artefacts from Agrigento, with ceramics and terracotta statuettes. Also in Viale Teòcrito, close the
Archaeological Museum is the Museum of Papyrus, founded in the 1989. Leaving the Museum and
17
taking Via Von Platen, we pass by the Catacombs of Vigna Cassia and of Santa Marìa di Gesù (not
open to the public) and, turning down Bassa Acradina, we come to the 17th c. Chiesa dei
Cappuccini, which contains a painting attributed to the Neapo1itan Mattìa Preti, The Madonna with
St Agata and St Lucy. Here a1so is the latomìa dei Cappuccini, with its luxuriant and picturesque
vegetation. We now proceed almost to the end of Via Teocrito, turn right along Via Monte Grappa
and arrive at Piazza di Santa Lucia, with the Chiesa di Santta Lucia, the sepulchre chapel and the
catacombs. The church, which has a nave and two aisles, is Byzantine in origin; it was rebuilt in
Norman times and partly rebuilt after the earthquake in 1693.
Palazzolo Acreide
HISTORY
Syracuse founded here in 664 BC the city of Akrai. which played an important role in the control of
the paths of communication with the towns on the S coast. Civitas stipendiaria under the Romans, it
was still prospering in the early Christian age. It was probably later destroyed by the Arabs. A
Norman castle, no longer extant, led to new development of the town. The 1693 earth-quake, with
its terrible devastations, necessitated further patient reconstruction work.
MONUMENTS
Anthony Blunt, in his outstanding book on the Sicilian Baroque, informs us that the longest baroque
balcony in the island is at Palazzolo Acreide (unfortunately it is not also the most beautiful, mainly
because of the mediocre masks of the corbels). All, or nearly all, the rest of the baroque art of this
pretty town, is however beautiful, as for example the portal of the Annunziata church, with spiral
columns surrounded by vine tendrils, and the nearby Chiesa di San Paolo, whose portico is
reminiscent of Palazzo Ducezio at Noto (which may be by the same architect; the experts are still
however uncertain). We have gone to the highest point of the town. Let us now begin again, down
below, to go through the picturesque lanes in the mediaeval part of the town. Here we can see the
Casa-museo A. Uccello, a museum of peasant life, and the Chiesa Madre, San Nicolo’. Rebuilt
after the 1693 earthquake. In the main streets, laid out in the 18th c., stand elegant dwellings such as
Palazzo Zocco, with yet others in Via Garibaldi; Palazzo Cappellani (2Oth c.) is the seat of the
Archaeological Museum. The town possesses an ancient theatre, which, though not very big, is
pretty and well preserved in parts of the cavea and orchestra; it is stilI used for summer
perfonnances. Here we are in the archaeological zone, among the excavations of Akrai, where the
Syracusan Greek city was located. There are various traces also of the archaic age. Beside the
theatre is the bouleuterion (meeting-place ), beyond which are two latomìe (quarries ), Intagliata
and Intagliatella, which were places of worship, dwellings and necropolises. Finally, in the nearby
country area of Santicello, are the rock sculptures which have become famous with the name of
santoni: most of them represent the goddess Cybele, who was worshipped here.
Noto
HISTORY
The town was built in 1703, on the left of the River Asinaro, 6 km SE of Noto Antica, which was
destroyed by the earthquake in 1693. In classica1 times it was a Greek centre a Roman colony.
During the Arab dornination it became the capital of the Val di Noto. After the exodus of the
population and the tremendous econornic crisis following the earthquake in 1693, the town was
rebuilt in accordance with originai town-planning criteria, and began once again to prosper
emographically, cu1turally and econornically. However its role as the main urban centre in the
valley passed to Syracuse in 1817. Since World War II there has been a gradual abandonment of the
old town centre, with the creation of new quarters S of the town.
Noto – the capital of European Barock
Before the devastating earthquake of 1693, Noto rose on Mount Alveria. Just on that high ground,
with its unusual form of heart, surrounded by inaccessible valleys, and, on the vast surrounding
18
area, from Castelluccio to Finocchito and the highland of Aguglia, its origins, which get lost in the
the most ancient times, are to be sought.
Certainly, Mount Alveria, since the prehistoric age, had been occupied by native peoples, the
Elemis, the Sicans and the Siculians, even before X century B.C..
Here, Neas, Neaithon, Netum, Neeto and, finally, Noto have been influenced by numerous cultural
stratifications, among which, after the above-quoted peoples, the Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab,
Norman, Aragonese and Spanish presence.
The raising of Noto to the Head Valley of the whole south - eastern Sicily ( Noto Valley) dates back
to the Arabic period (864 - 1091). The towered Noto, numquam vi capta, razed to the ground by the
terrible earthquake of 1693, was rebuilt, after a weary dispute between those who longed for having
it risen on Alveria and those who supported the moving to a new site, on Meti Hill and on the slope
facing the south.
As a consequence of an extraordinary creative season, modern Noto could see the rise, on a regular
urbanistic order, of its wonderful monuments, resulting from a refined interpretation of Baroque. Its
style had moderate tones and a harmonic fusion with the canons of classicism, thanks to the great
architects of the time, such as Gagliardi, Labisi and Sinatra, and the assistance of experienced stonemasons and whimsical craftsmen. The sublime beauty of the churches and the civil buildings is
embellished by the tender limestone used for their construction, which, as time has gone by, has
assumed a soft honey colour, exalted to excess by the light of sunset.
Noto, together with the theatricality of its scenographical squares, has also legitimized the most
flattering definitions, such as "the Gold City" and "the Garden of Stone".
The Baroque of Noto, with the play of lights and shades of the now concave, now convex façades of
its churches, with its capitals, its perspective foreshortenings, changing after the time and the
seasons, with the enigmatic looks of the puttoes, monsters, sirens, chimeras, always surprises and,
in every instant, it projects toward unexpected capturing and charming corners. Besides the Baroque
of the old town centre, Noto, the barycentre of a vast territory ranging among the provinces of
Catania, Syracuse and Ragusa, offers the thickest density of archaeological, artistic and
environmental properties, which allow it to be presented as "the District of the Italian and
Mediterranean cultural districts".
A few kilometres away from the city, the Siculian necropolis of Castelluccio, the ruins of Ancient
Noto, Finocchito and Aguglia, the throbbing ruins of the Greek Eloro, the mosaics of the Roman
Villa of Caddeddi and thousands of historical and archaeological evidences, can be admired. From
the environmental point of view, the gilded beaches of the whole coastal area, up to Marzamemi
and Portopalo, together with the exclusive naturalistic oasis of Vendicari, a genuine natural heaven,
match with Cava Grande, dug out in the millennia by the river Cassibile, the deepest canyon in
Europe, with its clear little ponds, around which astonishing legends have flourished.
In Noto, proclaimed half millennium ago, on 23rd June 1503, urbs ingeniosa, with the official
decree of Ferdinando II and pertinent diploma, culture is breathed, as its history is imbued with
culture.
Noto has all the credentials to introduce itself as the most beautiful Sicilian place, with its
magnificent churches and cultural itineraries. It is a cultural and artistic city, with an invaluable,
well preserved and protected heritage, thanks to the citizens’ love of their land. The city, a heritage
of UNESCO, has welcomed, for a year, an International Centre of Deradian studies which
coordinates, for Harvard University, the Summer School for American students, the first university
centre in the province of Syracuse, numerous cultural events and a history that fascinates all its
visitors.
19
At heart, Noto wishes to become a live Baroque city, like its stones, proud and able to offer
facilities and comfort to its tourists.
The Councillor of Tourism
In 1996, an article appeared on a national newspaper, in which our Town was defined a lost
paradise. The dome of the cathedral had just collapsed, so Noto was the most famous Baroque city
in the world, since it contained a heritage of absolute beauty, though inaccessible (all its monuments
were barricaded). As time has gone by, thanks to the intervention of the succeeding Town
Administrations, the strength of its inhabitants, the city has set itself a goal: to fight for the opening
of the palaces and churches to visitors. Now, Nicolaci Palace, an example of Baroque splendour, the
Churches and the Convents, the Cloisters, the Monastery of Saint Clara, Trigona Palace,
Impellizzeri Palace, the Town Hall, Ducezio Palace and its splendid Hall of Mirrors can be seen
restored. The roads and streets of the ancient Town, such as the one of the Loggia of the Market,
and its characteristic popular quarters can be admired. In a very short time, two museums and other
cultural centres will be available. The City has been a University Centre for a year. This year, the
International Centre of Deradian Studies, the Italian Institute of Boston and Harvard University
have founded the first Summer School in Sicily, to teach the American students the traditions, the
culture the island. Since June 2002, Noto has been honoured with the title of World Heritage of
UNESCO, awarded to the Cities of the Valley of Noto: Catania, Caltagirone, Noto, Palazzolo
Acreide, Ragusa, Scicli.
Noto is also the first Cultural District of Italy. Since the 80’s, great progress has been made and,
now, time has come for the challenge: to become both a tourist and cultural city.
The Theatre and Opera planning, the summer Concerts in the cloisters give life to the evenings,
every season of the year. In May, the Flower Show and the Baroque Parades of the Baroque Spring
are other appointments not to miss. With the swarming of facilities (13 hotels, 7 factory camps, 20
camping sites and B&Bs, 34 restaurants and inns), Noto offers tourists a package all year round,
ranging from the Baroque itineraries to the historical and archaeological ones, to the folk traditions
and the local shows, to the “sun and sea recipe”, by which the Blue Guide of Legambiente judges
the sea in Noto one of the cleanest in Italy.
The Mayor
Hon. Lawyer Michele Accardo
The Thousand and One Streets of the city
The territory of Noto, with its rich heritage, represents the only place in Italy where innumerable
sceneries open out to the tourists spellbound, so that they can enjoy a holiday, amid walks, to the
discovery of the ruins of the ancient city, the blue sky of its meadows, the sacred stones of its
convents, the living stones of its noble palaces, the historical and archaeological evidences of the
Siculian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arabian, Medieval cultures.
The territory of Noto extends for 554 sq. kms. and is crossed by two rivers the Asinaro and the
Tellaro. The magnificent sandy and gilded coasts, the clear and clean sea are tourist destinations,
every year, so that the traditions of a place that uses the language of emotion will be appreciated.
The nature reserve of Vendicari, the ruins of Ancient Noto, the Greek and Roman villas, the
historical memories, the colony of Eloro, the castles and the old farms can be visited. In the alleys
of the "old village", gastronomic specialities can be tasted, shopping can be made, the triumph of
the Baroque art can be admired.
20
For those who love theatre and music, Noto offers a wide range of proposals, from evenings in the
open air, to plays, at the Victor Emmanuel Theatre. For those who love night-time life, there is a lot
to choose from, restaurants, cafés with bands, pubs. The people in Noto are so kind that visitors are
spoilt by their warm welcome. In Noto, lectures and international meetings are organized; the city
was honoured with the title of world heritage of UNESCO and it is the first Cultural District in
Italy.
In the summer, concerts animate its quaint side-streets, illuminated by violet lamp-posts. The
palaces, with their Baroque sculptures, make visitors dream, catapulted into the history, the culture
that can be breathed everywhere. The opportunities not to miss are: a visit to the centre of the city, a
plunge into the blue sea, the enjoyment of the history enclosed in the boundaries of the ancient
cities and its popular traditions, parades and quarter shows.
The Live Stones of Barock
Ancient Noto, the greatest mother, had in the 17th century, "among bastions, ramparts and towers",
eleven convents, eight monasteries, two collegiate churches, two parishes, 56 churches in the
inhabited area and 14 out of it, six fountains, a lot of distinguished abodes and the Court House or
"Adjuratory House", built between 1550 and 1565. It was "ancient, great and wealthy", Philip
Tortora quoted, and it had about 12.000 inhabitants.
Its origin is still unknown; according to Diodoro from Agira, Noto was built by Ducezio, the king of
the Siculians (488-440 B.C.). His profile can be seen in the coins of Calacta, founded by him, after
his return from Greece. Ancient Noto was a federate city of the Romans, like Messina and
Taormina (212 B.C.). Cicero visited it and protected it (70 B.C.) from Verre, who had requested the
undue payment of a tithe (tax). Throughout the imperial Roman Age, Ancient Noto was a Latin
town. In the Middle Ages, exactly in 903, the Arabs gathered their General Parliament there, and
they appointed it the Head of one of the three Valleys, into which Sicily was divided.
Such it remained, in history, up to 1817. The greatest of the Sicilian Arabic poets in exile, Ibn
Hamdìs (1052 - 1132), chanted it with nostalgia. The Normans made a Dukedom of it, whereas, in
1341, Peter II of Aragon approved of its customs, so that it received and kept numerous privileges
and immunities. John Aurispa (1376 - 1459), the most adventurous humanist, was born in Noto.
Matthew Carnilivari, who left in Palermo (1490 - 1495) the most sensible pieces of architecture of
XV century, was from Noto, too. In 1503, on proposal of the ambassador Ronald Monitoro, from
Noto, Ferdinand the Catholic gave Noto the name of "Ingeniosa" (rich in talents).
After the earthquake of 11th January 1693, Noto hesitated whether to remain on Mount Alveria or
to arise again in other inner lands, or on the shores of the Ionian Sea. The citizens hesitated for ten
years to consider a new definitive centre the feud of Mete, where it is today, eight miles away from
Ancient Noto and three miles from the sea. The site had immediately been agreed upon after the
earthquake, by the citizens together with the General Vicar of the Kingdom, the Duke of Camastra.
Some months after the earthquake, Angel Italia, in agreement with the nobility of Noto, had already
devised and traced the new and grandiose town-planning scheme. In 1700, Noto received the
Solomonic authorization, so that the new city and the ancient one could be inhabited. In the same
period, Rosary Gagliardi, from Siracusa, moved to Noto.
Noto, with its hedonism, fineness and the best passions of its millenial temperament, gave rise to
the miracle which now appears to our eyes.
In 1748 Charles III of Bourbon conferred the new city a Consulate of commerce with cognizance of
13 towns. In 1788 Ferdinand I appointed Senators the Jurors who administered it. In 1817 the
Valleys of Sicily were raised from three to seven, and were headed by Superintendents of the
Provinces (Prefects). Noto had to surrender its secular powers to Syracuse. It got them back twenty
21
years later thanks to Ferdinand II, in 1837, when it became a Province, and lost them after the unity
of Italy, in 1865.
The city is sealed up, as it were, with these last circumstances. However, during the Second World
War, the landing, on its harbours, and the passage of the Allied Armies (on July 1943), left it
uninjured. The bronzy statue of Saint Corrado Confalonieri, the patron of the city, sculptured by
Mario Ferretti (1955) welcomes visitors. The plants of a shady avenue, the slender and tall palms,
and the flowerbeds, where the scent of jasmine frequently predominates, as well as the hermai of
the illustrious men of Noto, carved by Joseph Pirrone (1898 - 1978), will welcome tourists: Joseph
Cassone, a poet and translator (1843 - 1912), Conrad Avolio, a glottologist (1843 - 1905), John
Aurispa, a promoter of humanism (1376 - 1459), Rocco Pirri, a historiographer of Sicily (1577 1651).
The allegorical statue of Architecture, graven, when still young, by the same author as the one of
the hermai, to honour Matthew Carnilivari (XV century), of whom we have not got any portraits,
can draw the tourists' attention on the urbanism and on the architectural qualities of the city, already
known by repute. The Royal Gate (whose name has been used, even after being rechristened, the
Royal Gate) was built in 1838 in honour of Ferdinand II of Bourbon by Horace Angelini, a follower
of Canova, at Joseph Trigona's expense, the Marquis of Cannicarao (1795 - 1857). The sculptures
overhanging it symbolize Ancient Noto as the Head Valley City (the Tower), Jesus the Saviour (the
Pelican) and Fidelity, obviously, to the Bourbon dynasty (the Greyhound).
We owe the Baroque amazement of New Noto to Rosary Gagliardi (1687? - 1762), who was and
signed his pieces of work as the Architect and Engineer of the City of Noto and its Valley, and to
his collaborators: the sculptor Michelangelo Alessi (in Noto from 1702, and near to Gagliardi from
1725 to about the first half of the century) and the sculptor and architect Vincent Sinatra (1707 1782).
Gagliardi accepted the advice of the grandiose project made by Angel Italia (1628-1700), in 1693,
for the vastness of the terrestrial scenography and for its original architecture. Angel Italia, the most
creative Sicilian architect of XVII century, came from Palermo, where he had invented, amongst
other things, the free and forerunning church of St. Francis Saverino. Rosary Gagliardi brought to
maturity and conclusion all that was original in the Sicilian Baroque art. Around the Monastery of
the Saviour it is advisable to proceed, detail after detail, like water-diviners.
Revisiting this side of the city, this urban landscape, as it was up to the first decades of XIX
century, visitors will be struck by the view of Noto, very similar to the two superimposed acropolis
of a sanctuary city, the one on the slope, the other on the plateau. A well-connected movement of
volumes and surfaces will be seen in the church of the Virgin. The historical culture is evident in a
well outlined fancy of volutes, obelisks, in the irrational logic of motives and suggestions which are
composed and give rise to a genially immediate theatricality. So, the new city has an uncommon
history and remote traditions. Indeed, the city could seem to be built to entertain a congregation of
priests, friars, monks, and nuns.
The Benedictine Monastery of the Saviour prevails. The two buildings which compose it are
connected, on the steep slant, by the Belvedere Tower, billowed like the Roman St. Carlino at the
Four Fountains (1638-1641) of Borromini. The turgid Tower, encircled in order not to overflow,
contains the staircases of connection. On the buttress, that ties it up, an obelisk stands out. On its
top, a pyramidal balcony rises. The very elegant lower building, had in the first order some arcs,
which look like those of a portico, suitable for the entry of the city. Even the suggestion was
suppressed when, in XIX century, that first order was to become the second one on the entrenched
22
road level. The second order, now the third one, has some sculptures which look like pieces of
embroidery around the windows, designed in 1750 by Vincent Sinatra.
Close to the Belvedere Tower, a single element, almost the model of a pierced attic, the most
whimsical of its finishing touch, unique in the world, rises on top of the trabeation.
Behind it, the enormous semicylindrical apse of the Basilica of the Saviour dominates, without
ornaments. In this architecture and elsewhere in the city, the beautiful effect of the selvages of tiles
either on the low surfaces or on the most pompous lintels, can be seen. For those who observe it
from the “Cassero”, the Tower rises mysteriously, almost like a voluptuary building for the summer
mornings and sunsets. On the flights of an airy staircase, and above the XIX century terrace, both
the Church and the wide Convent of St. Francis, well-equipped with windows, are situated in the
wings of the Monastery of the Saviour. They are pieces of work by Rosary Gagliardi and Vincent
Sinatra.
The aboriginal rock at its base was undoubtedly a living and provocative reality, caught by the
imagination of the great master. The façade of the Church hardly lets the inside spatiality appear.
The portal is enriched with admirable grooved and graven columns. It reminds us of the hand of
such a master-sculptor as Michelangelo Alessi. The vigorous lintel of the first order stands out as an
arc above a niche so well designed as to compose a harmonious dissonance with the strong broken
eardrum. It should be noted that in the façades of the churches of Noto the niches and even the
corbels for the statues are often primary motives, where the spatial smooth surfaces make them look
as if they were suspended.
On the side of the Church, in a curtain deprived of ornaments, if compared to the Slope of the
Virgin, to the architectural flight and the Belvedere of the Saviour, a minor portal in divergent
pilaster strips, with two skilful capitals, appears. Here, like elsewhere, both in the most pompous
and in the humblest parts of the city, simplicity and invention are not contrasted realities, but
coexistent ones. Simplicity and invention (now perceived) make up a unitary piece of work, so they
are in agreement with the expression of the city life. On the left side of the "Corso", the mighty
massive structure of the Monastery of Saint Clara, a Benedictine one, too, like the Saviour, is
silhouetted. Binding itself to the tower-shaped façade of the Church of Our Lady of Assumption, it
completes greatly this splendid triad of buildings. The Monastery had integrated the necessary form
of fortification, guarding the “Vallone” (Great Valley), perhaps since the last years of XVII century
to dominate the place, later called, the Old Gate. The original paintings of both the Monastery and
the Church of Our Lady of Assumption, called Saint Clara, by Gagliardi, exist. Inside the
Monastery, Bernard Labisi (1773), too, used to work. The fluid bifurcate circular staircases can be
admired there. The inside of the oval Church (1745-1758), of Roman origin, is bejewelled with
tarsian-shaped altars of exquisite workmanship from Ancient Noto. A unique decorum of candid
and gilding plasters, appears, almost rustling among trabeated columns with high attics and a parade
of statues, on top of them: the Apostles. It is a nearly Spanish decorum, which makes Saint Clara
unique. Gagliardi does not conceal here, as outside (to protect it), the drawing-room grace of the
buyer nuns. Certainly, he also expresses it in his predilections for the ornamentations and the
plasters (by Onofrio Russo). It seems as though the Landolinas came to Ancient Noto after Roger
the Norman, on February 1091. John Baptist Landolina Salonia offered, in agreement with the other
nobles, in 1693, the feud of Mete (the site where today the new Noto rises) as a new site, in which
the city had to be founded, and so he had the opportunity to glory in the fame to have traced the first
urbanistic scheme drawn from a book.
The Palace of the Landolinas, which is called after the marquisite of Saint Alfano, was built by
Francis Landolina, the instructor or first guide of Vincent Sinatra, in 1730’s, on the left of the
Mother Church. It shows the work of a quasi-conservative Sinatra and yet a forerunner of
Neoclassicism.
23
On the first lintel, in front of the first floor, a balcony runs from an extreme to the other as if tied up
to the horizons diametrically. Saint Alfano Palace has a refined inner courtyard partly elevated, with
plants and flowerbeds. The XIX century wing, was built to entertain in 1838 Ferdinand II of
Bourbon and Queen Mary Theresa of Austria. The Area Matris Ecclesiae, that is the Mother
Church, gathers the numerous city rhapsodies. This Area, fragmented by the theatrical flight of
steps, in the shape of a Roman sanctuary, by the terraces and exhedras planted with trees, now
shows the XIX century resolution of its first environmental composition which matched the
freshness of the different levels occupied.
The XVIII century work was then a miracle. However, both the opportunity and the patron were
missing (you cannot have everything!), so that Noto could not have a unitary connection of high
ground with staircase levels and various connections, similar to those, graven fancifully, of Rome in
the stairway of Trinità de' Monti (1723-1726). Whatever happened, if here the spaces are grafted
visually to other spaces in an overturnable game of prevalences and counterpoints of musical
effects, the XIX century resolution is not deprived of originality and of worth. The spacious Church
of the Holy Saviour, later appointed Basilica, seems to have the unitary form of an ellipse. Anthony
Mazza (1761-1826) added to it the spacious plain façade (1719) simplifying a project of Andrew
Gigante. The quality of the niches, almost recomposed, of the friezes and reliefs, witnesses the
neoclassic diligence of the author. Additionally, inside it, Anthony Mazza painted in fresco the
vault with the Pentecost: the scene of the prodigy is a staircase, which seems a forerunning glimmer
on the landscape of XIX century Noto. Moreover, a Crucifixion, attributed to Francis Marino, an
Adoration of the Magi and the Presentation of the Saints Maurice and Placid to St. Benedict, by
Joseph Velasco, who signed himself Velasquez, are of interest. The Basilica of the Saviour boasts
three choirs (guess the voices and the polyphony of XVIII century) and a precious organ of Donatus
Del Piano (1778). To that genius, the gigantic organ of the Benedictines in St. Nicholas in Catania,
the mighty organ which upset Goethe's fancy in 1787, is due.
On the left, the arcades of an Ionic portico jut out in semicircle (see the capitals of the Capitoline
palaces by Michelangelo), which, on the high trabeation, suspend a baluster, after the manner of
Maderno. It is the same as the one that can be found on the F Prospect by Gagliardi over a building
of a single order. This wonderful XVIII century work, opposite the Mother Church, in the new city,
is heir to the Adjuratory House or House of Court, which rose, in XVI century, in Ancient Noto.
In 1746 Vincent Sinatra placed, as a master builder, the semicolumns. Since 1788 this Adjuratory
House had become a Senatorial House. After that, it was, Ducezio Palace, the Town Hall.
Opposite Ducezio Palace, the Mother Church of St. Nicholas, later the Cathedral, the greatest
temple of Noto (1693-1780), rises, with its two towers, its bells and clock. The flight of steps by
Bernard Làbisi (1832) was forced, by the levelling of the Corso, to be lowered by a ramp, as well as
the staircase of the Church of the Virgin. It ends between the symmetry of the two exhedra squares
(1880) with trimmed trees, like in the villas or in the royal castles of the North: the one said of
Music, which contains the stage, the other of the Monument. This was, originally, a beautiful
Monument to the favourite and living Ferdinand II, a piece of work by Titus Angelici (1842). It was
damaged in 1848 and demolished in 1860, during the revolts and the exploits which led to the unity
of Italy. In harmony with this part of the city, which had to be rebuilt antiseismically, the façade
exalts the horizontality of its own scheme. It originates, like the mother Church of Versailles, by
Mansart, from the Roman façade of Saint Anastasia, by the Florentine Louis Arrigucci (1636),
under the guide of Bernini. Like in Palma of Montechiaro, the innovator Angel Italia foresaw in
Noto the addition of trabeated columns after the style used by Rainaldi in the Roman Saint Mary in
Campitelli (1657). Gagliardi, who, certainly, worked on this Church, respected the masters'
projects, he held in great esteem, and had them respected. The façade was built by Sinatra.
24
However, there was room for the imponderable consistence that only a genius could give. The
bronzy door, a gift of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (1983) represents, after Joseph
Pirrone's model (1963), the History of St. Corrado's life. The first dome of St. Nicholas collapsed
during its installation. The second one did not have long life. The third one was planned by Stefano
Ittaro, the whimsical architect, to whom the slender dome of St. Nicholas, in Catania, is due. It
collapsed for an earthquake in 1848. The fourth dome, by Luis Cassone, collapsed, partly, in 1996,
causing both the ruin of the main aisle and the fall of the church. In St. Nicholas, the splendid
silvery Urn, has been preserving, since 1584, the body of St. Corrado, now in the church of St.
Charles in the Corso. It was carried out by Claude Lo Pagio of Lione (in 1561), after the project of
the architect John Manuella, from Noto, and has been embellished several times over. In 1621 four
silver Griffons, symbolizing Christ, protected it from percolation during the parades. The Street of
the Prince (Corrado Nicolaci Street) goes up along the façade, which gives fame to the minor side
of Villadorata Palace. It can boast, as a backdrop, the concave façade of the Church of St. Jerome or
Montevergine, which hides the precipice of the hill, on the way to the noble palaces and gives rise
to the most widely open stage effect in the city. With the annexe Cistercian Monastery of the
Bernardine Nuns (1762), the Church of Montevergine is the work of Vincent Sinatra, with reflexes
of Gagliardi.
The façade, thickly trabeated in the first order, is rolled up, as if to entwine around an invisible
column; it holds on the top of the second order two bell turrets partly concave, too. On the Street of
the Prince, the façade of Villadorata Palace, commissioned in 1737 by the learned James Nicolaci,
introduces, at the sides of the Gallery with Griffons, three on each one, six haughty Baroque
balconies, among the most widely known in the world, whose aim is to invent and to dominate the
space of the city. The balconies have five graven corbels each, which are pieces of work of different
masters and seem, here, more modern, there, more ancient.
They are masterpieces of admirable workmanship, of varied and capricious expressiveness and
power, vehicles of messages of inspiration and tradition, not provincial, from the Etnean Baroque
sculpture. There are the Balconies of the Adolescents, two exactly, the last of which is, however, a
very poor XX century imitation of the first one. Perhaps, the balcony of the Venerables might
integrate the themes. Then, there is the Balcony of the Winged Horses and the Balcony of the
Snarling Lions with a scroll of ornaments in the middle. They are both heir to the medieval arts.
After that, there is the so-called Balcony of the Turk (bald, with an earring, a charming flageolet
and a pipe) among bearded, winged geniuses, and with sub-corbels by the sweet little heads of a
putto. The other anthropomorphous sub-corbels are in the shape of acanthus ringlets. Lastly, there is
the Balcony of the Winged, soft and enchanting Sirens, to kiss with the eyes. The grasp of the
symbols, so eloquent in the maturity of this art, remains entrusted to the sensibility and the
perspicacity of the observers. Villadorata Palace differs, in its structure, from the greatest noble
residences of Noto. Certainly, Gagliardi and the great masters of XVIII century in Noto used to
work there. A long trail, planted with trees, fits the slope of Meti. The strectched ramp juts out of
the inclination, which leads to the the upper plane. It all gets the metaphoric sense of an
autocthonous culture. Also, the copy of the Dawn by Guy Reni, painted in fresco in the vault of the
many coloured Hall, seems to originate in Noto. Then, the Church of the College, or St. Charles
Bartholomew (1736 - 1754), with its wonderful concave façade on a double moon base and its three
colonnade orders, can be admired. The highest of them is a belfry, though if the bells are on top, in
a windward stone veil. They could be seen and heard in the film "The Adven-ture",by Michelangelo
Antonioni. The Church of St. Dominic (founded in the early thirties of XVIII century, next to the
homonymous Convent), is an incomparable masterpiece by Rosary Gagliardi. The interior side of
the Church of St. Dominic has an original lengthened Greek cross structure. The chapel of the
Crucified shows a precious marmoreal altar-piece: Our Lady of Sorrows and the Four Stations of
the Way of the Cross. Two altar-pieces, painted by Anthony Madiona, are noteworthy: St. Dominic
25
who receives the Holy Spirit and St. Dominic who receives the Rosary from the Virgin Mary
(1703).
Nevertheless, the stirring coherence of the inside, among the solid pilasters, the thick trabeation and
the serlians, is an anticipation of the miracle of its façade. It is fairly convex and columned, mighty
for its conception, consistency and the perfection of its effect, its volumes and sculptures, yet
vigorous in its agile equilibrium. The colour and the smoothness of the calcareous stone give the
whole an unprecedented sensuality. Never had the Baroque art absorbed and expressed, with such a
vigour, the spirit of a land and the civilization of its people. The elliptical movement of the satellite
columns checks the soft sketch of the niches, the big window, the pompous portal; yet, it impresses
an XVIII century turgidity on the masses. In the adjoining Convent of the Preaching Fathers of St.
Dominic, the Academy of the Transformed used to meet. The façade with the sundial, facing
Midday, is the original one. The stupendous Portal (1728), close to which the columns of the
Church stretch out, is original too. The Villetta of Hercules takes its name from the Fountain of
Hercules, by Joseph Orlando (1757), inspired by the Roman Triton of Bernini, on a preexisting
lobed tub by Paul Làbisi. It was transferred there in 1787, from the area of the Mother Church. Here
the deified hero holds the coat of arms of the city, and, to arouse Noto, draws from his bugle a high
jet. Among the flower-beds there are the busts of both the political man and minister Matthew Raeli
(1812-1875), a bronze one, by Francis Xavier Sortino, and the poetess Mariannina Coffa (18411878), a marble one by Charles Nicòli from Carrara. The 16th of May Square, by its subtle
attraction, was the principal area, the big market of the city just transferred. It was the popular
agora, where workers by the day and employees can be still found. In the lower part of the Square,
in the South-West, the shining Town Theatre Vittorio Emanuele II rises: 350 seats, almost a theatre
of court, wanted by the Superintendent La Rosa. Planned by Francis Sortino, in 1851, it is a
masterpiece by Francis Cassone.
Octavius Nicolaci, Prince of Villadorata, ordered its construction, at his own expenses. It has very
good acoustics. It was inaugurated on 4th December 1870. On 23rd March 1883, Tina Di Lorenzo
(1872-1930), an Italian actress of international fame, native of Noto, made her debut. The Theatre
replaces the wonder and luxury of that period. It is the only theatre in the whole province of
Syracuse opened to the public. In the west, the Church of Saint Mary of Càrmine or the Church of
Càrmine (1743) is the most admirable background in Noto. It rises, grandiosely unbalanced, with its
church-square, close to the Convent of Saint Mary of Mount Carmelo of the Carmelitans of the
New Observance, a piece of work by Gagliardi (1740).
It gets what had been requested in other places with the Church of Montevergine or, in a subtle
allusive procedure, with the median gallery of the College of Jesuits, though not obtained with the
same creative splendour. Rosary Gagliardi was here too assisted by the irreplaceable Vincent
Sinatra, a stone cutter, carver, sculptor, urbanist, architect, excellent planner and performer. The
profile of the wonderful concave façade resembles the façade of The Virgin Mary of the Theatins
which Guarino Guarini (1624-1683) built in Messina, in 1660. Inside it, there is a unique wellundulated room in the shape of a lobed rhomb, adorned with plasters, which interpret the rococo
and the Chinese fashion, too, then spread all over Europe. On the high altar, a wooden and painted
Madonna can be found. The Beautiful Mother of Carmine is a piece of work by Anthony Del
Monachello (XVI century). The vault has a fresco ascribed by Francis Balsamo to Carasi: the
Triumph of the Virgin of Carmelo over the Aryan and Nestorian heresies. The inner and outer parts
of Carmine confirm the tuning with the grandeur of the urban project by Angel Italia.
The Palace of the Astutos, barons of Fargione has a motive of XVIII century tapestry, which
connects vertically its three orders expressing a true triumph. The wrought iron balconies, in the
form of wicker baskets, resemble the Sicilian chests of drawers of that great century. The gigantic
lobby, raised again, like all XIX century levelling of the street, leads to a courtyard engraved in the
26
rock. In addition to a small garden, it is surrounded by the high profile of the city. This Palace,
between the end of XVIII and the first decades of XIX centuries, contained the Astuto Museum,
whose pieces of work were dispersed after the death of the founder Anthony Astuto (1739-1822).
They were purchased by the Louvre, the British Museum, the Prado, too.
The Museum had a Library, a Picture-Gallery, a Collection of Medals, an Antiquarian Section. It
was frequented by the cultured foreigners who visited this strip of Sicily. Some paintings and pieces
of work of local interest are kept in Noto, and they make the Town Library precious. Trigona Palace
of Marquises of Cannicarao displays great magnificence. Besides, the planner, perhaps Gagliardi,
all the masters of Baroque in Noto, including Bernard Làbisi, worked there. It is a structure of very
high prestige, which connects two residences, well-separated inside. It has two different luxurious
façades: the one on Montevergine Street, with a belvedere turret on the upper part, the other one, on
the opposite side, as a princely villa, where there was a, partly pensil, garden (there is still a gigantic
pine). A part of Trigona Palace was acquired by the Town Administration, which uses it as a
conference room. From its magnificent terrace the stately ruins of the Cathedral and the work of
reconstruction can be admired. The straight Street of the Cathedral, that climbs like a loophole, can
be seen, after a crossroad, in a staircase: it is the Slope of the Castle (so-called after the Bandiera
Brothers).
It is a notable piece of work by Francis Cassone who had been working, as a town engineer, since
1864. Its 135 steps in eleven flights divide the lower part from the higher one of the city.
From Cavour Street (Montevergine Street) the upper part of the city, called “Pianazzo”, can be
reached, if on foot; from the external eastern ring road, if by car. Or else, it can be reached from the
inner side, through two other carriage streets: Ascenso Mauceri Street (or the Slope of Tasca), and
Anthony Sofia Street (or the Slope of Montandon). The former ends up at the Slope of the
Immaculate (Dogali and Saàti Street), in the eastern part, the latter in the western one. Both these
Slopes run into XIX century connecting staircases and terraces. In Mauceri Street, on the right top,
there is the palace, where Peter Anthony Tasca used to live (1858-1934), a composer of chamber
music and operas. His masterpiece, the She-Wolf, drawn from the rustican tale by John Verga, was
represented in 1932 at the Lictorial of Noto, which, together with the Arena of Verona, was, at the
time, in Italy, an open-air opera house. The Lictorial occupied the area of the sports ground. The
evident western relief of the quarter of Jesus has got Baroque, Neoclassic, Romantic pieces of
architecture, with terraces and galleries by a refined aspect of holiday rural buildings. At every
footstep, it seems to be in a spellbound place, otherwise. At the “Pianazzo”, the relationship
between the volumes and the height of the buildings of different styles, seems balanced. Clearly,
here too, the city trusted the principles of the reticulum scheme.
The central Square of the Crucified opens on to rectilinear streets, whose buildings rarely exceed
the first floor and so they give a sense of abstractness, of least solidity of memory, of melancholy.
The Church of the Crucified rises there, perhaps, the first of the greatest work of Gagliardi (1715).
Its width is second to the Mother Church of St. Nicholas, that rises on the same line. In this church
the Holy Thorn of the crown of Jesus is preserved, which was brought there by a monk, in 1225,
from the Holy Land. Among the most beloved ancient things, in this church, there are: a wooden
Ecce Homo of XVI century and two vigorous Romanesque Lions, which were first outside, at the
sides of the portal with a beautiful compositive effect. The Lions were restored and sheltered
(1987). However, in the transept every attention will be reserved to the marmoreal, nearly waxen,
Madonna with the Child, the Madonna of Snow or the White Madonna, graven and signed in 1471
by Francis Laurana. For such a haughty masterpiece he had, as a model, the Infanta of Aragon. This
Madonna came out, almost unharmed, of the ruins of Ancient Noto.
All over the “Pianazzo”, only a noble Palace, the one of the Impellizzeris, Barons of St. James
(1752), will be found, in a wonderful place on the southern border. The façade of St. James Palace
27
has evident analogies with that of St. Alfano Palace, situated on the left of the Cathedral;
particularly, the characteristic of a well refined rustic architecture of XVIII century distinguishes it.
It has a Great Staircase, a Library and an Armoury. Its panoramic exposure is the best. The whole
city, up to the sea, can be watched from there. Today the Palace is the seat of the Record Office; it
is possible to visit its large rooms, in very good conditions, and all its spaces. Visitors can also
pause at the very good quality of the floor, the original one. The Clock Tower (1879) stands out on
the Castle, according to the use and wont. It is a piece of well-proportioned work by Francis
Cassone, the architect of the Town Theatre.
The bell on the top hangs from the irons, like in Siena on the Tower of Mangia.
Behind St. James Palace, the Convent of St. Thomas The Apostle of the Bernardine Nuns (1739)
stretches northwards. It became a prison, so that it stands high on the camouflaged sharp cut, as if it
were a surrealistic punishment. Every other part of the “Pianazzo” was inhabited by the artisans,
labourers, farmers, and middle class people who, between XVIII and XIX centuries, were growing
in number. Swarms of new owners and professionals could enrich the city, at first, with goodishlooking and traditional pieces of work, then, with new, floral, modern, often of great value
ones.Ancient and modern portals, windows, balconies, niches, corbels, stones, irons and wrought
wood, often of a well functional Mediterranean essentiality, or rather Sicilian, of clean poverty,
unusually pure, can be observed (in the chapels, in the big and in the small houses, too).
Neverthrless, there is always something more. Antiquity is the past which still lives on, timelessly.
It is not easy to distinguish the masters’ work from the artisans’ one. It is wonderful to be able to
know about the quarter of “Mannarazze”, in the south-east part of the city, on the slope (where
herds and flocks lived), or “Agliastrello”, in the north-west (where there were oleaster trees).
Lanes and widenings are still spots open to visitors, full of popular art and Baroque memories.
Noto was for centuries a State city, not feudal, and the many nobles, in the ancient city and, many
more, in the new one, used to spend, even squander, (as in the fervour of gambling), their own
wealth, emulating themselves in palaces, chapels, churches, convents, monasteries. The powerful
religious orders and confraternities were not less reckless, since they relied on the Divine
Providence. Everyone struggled for grants, purchase, legacies of the best sites and convenient
waters. They longed for the others’ territories and buildings, the artisans’ and farmers’ houses and
the mansions of the rising middle class. After the earthquake, a tragic and immense trust was placed
in the wish to leave a track of the clear or secret orgies of power and appearence; an eternal track of
that deep ethnic and cultural hedonism which is the flower of the Mediterranean civilizations.
Whoever arrived or arrives in Noto has become or will become , a “notigiano” (a citizen of Noto):
that is the truth.
Augusta
HISTORY
The town first rose in the neighbouring territory of Megara Hyblaea, which was founded by the
Greeks of Megara in about 728 BC, and conquered and destroyed by Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse, in
about 428 BC. Rebuilt, very likely by the Roman Emperor Augustus, it was again destroyed in the
Middle Ages by the Saracens. The Normans built a fortified port here, which Frederick II of Swabia
in 1232 transformed into one of the most important military defences on the E coast of Sicily; he
also gave it its present name and enlarged it with the inhabitants of two towns which had rebelled
and been destroyed, Centuripe and Montalbano. It was captured in 1268 by the Angevins, after a
long siege; it passed to the Aragonese and became the fief of some great Sicilian families (the
Moncadas and the Chiaromontes). It was a1ways an important military port, and it was further
fortified in the 16th c. because of the persistent harassment by the Turks. It was from Augusta that
the Christian fleet which defeated theTurks at Lèpantoin 1571 set sail. The town was seriously
damaged in l676 during the Franco-Spanish war, and completely destroyed by the earth- quake in
28
l693. During World War II the Allied Forces landed at Augusta on 10 July 1943, starting the
occupation of Sicily.
MONUMENTS
Entering the town through Porta Spagnola, built by the Viceroy Benavides in l631, we immediately
come to the massive Castle, a solid compact construction, one of the rni1itary structures created by
Frederick II to fortify and defend this part of Sicily. The castle was built between 1231 and 1242. It
is of regular square plan, with rooms arranged around a central courtyard; the outer perimeter is
further fortified by quadrangular corner towers. The Castle has been much damaged and restored in
the course of time, especially in the inner part. The Duomo, built in 1644, stands in Piazza del
Duomo. It underwent lengthy restoration after the 1693 earthquake. The nave and two aisles are
separated by pillars. There is a Byzantine-style Madonna and Child. In the same square the Town
Hall, 1699, is characterized by its long balcony and the Swabian eagle at the centre of the cornice.
Lentini
HISTORY
This is the ancient Leontìnoi, traditionally said to be the home of the Laestrygones, man-eating
giants encountered by Ulysses (Odyssey, Bk X). It was founded in 729 BC by the Greeks of Naxos
on San Mauro Hill, near the modem town, in a territory already in- habited by the Sicels. After
some two centuries of independence and prosperity it was subjected to Gela at the beginning of the
5th c. BC and soon afterwards by Syracuse which, except for brief periods of autonomy, dominated
it until the death of Hieron II in 215 BC. The following year it was taken and destroyed by the
Roman consul Marcellus. It became a bishopric in the early Christian and Byzantine age. Seriously
damaged by earthquakes in 1140 and 1169 and rebuilt during the Swabian period, it was one of the
main royal cities in the island. But the earthquake in 1542 (the citizens refused to move to the new
town of Carlentini) and even more so the one in 1693 inevitably led to a process of gradual decline.
It was only in the 19th c. that Lentini began to develop economically, with new expansion of the
town.
MONUMENTS
The centre of the town consists of Piazza Umberto I and Piazza Duomo, where the Chiesa Madre,
Sant'Alfio, stands. The church was built at the end of the 17th c. and a1tered in the 18th. With a
nave and two aisles, it contains the silver litter of St Alfio and a Byzantine icon, the Virgin
Odigitria. The Archaeological Museum, in Piazza degli Studi, displays interesting local material
from prehistory to the 2nd c. BC.
Messina
The ancient name of the city , Zancle, a Greek word meaning "sickle", reflects the unusual curved
shape of the harbour which since anTiquity has made it a safe landing- pIace. In pre-Greek times it
was in- habited by autochthonous people, possibly Sicels. In the 8th c. BC Ionians and Chalcidians
founded the first urban nucleus between the San Ranieri penin" sula and the harbour zone. The town
began to grow, favoured by trade and port traffic. After the 5th c. BC, as a result of intema1
conflicts, it was destined to altemating vicissitudes. Messenian populations changed its hame to
Messina. After a period of Carthaginian domination ( 426 BC), the city achieved its freedom and
formed an alliance with Syracuse but, having been recaptured by the Carthagini- ans, it was
destroyed by Himilkon in 396 BC. The new city, rebuilt in the Hellenistic period by Dionysius I of
Syracuse, fell once again to the Carthaginians, from whom it was liberated by Timoleon. In 289 the
city was occupied by a group of mercenaries from Campania who had been expelled from Syracuse,
the Mamertines. When these were on the point ofbeing overcome by the Syracusans and the
Carthaginians, they asked Rome for help in 264 BC, the year the First Punic War broke out. Having
passed under Roman control in 263 BC, Messina became a federate city. It continued to prosper
until the fall of the Western Roman Empire (AD 476). After the dark period of the Barbarian
invasions, Messina retumed to splendour in the Byzantine Age, when the trading acti vities of the
port were revived. In 843 it was overcome by the Muslim invaders and the inhabitants fled in mass
29
to Rometta, and organized their resistance. They capitulated only in 965, when they retumed to the
city and reorganized its layout and social and economic life. In the Norman period Messina became
one of the most important centres in Sicily. The royal palace was built, the arsenal began to operate
and the city defences were strengthened by the extension of the boundary walls along the entire
coast.
The building fever continued in the successive Swabian Age, with further developments in townplanning and new development northwards. After the Angevin age and the War of the Sicilian
Vespers, in which Messina immediately played an active part and fought strenuously against the
oppressor, a new social and economic order was imposed by Frederick of Aragon, and a new city
layout was planned. In the 14th and 15th c., a new entrepreneurial bourgeois class began to develop,
devoted particularly to the silk, leather and wool trade. In the 15th c., and even more so in the 16th
c., the considerable economic development was accompanied by the opening-up of new roads and
squares and the creation of new areas of expansion. The anti-Spanish revolt in 1674- 78, which was
suppressed with great violence, put an end to the idea of making Messina the capital of the viceroyalty of Sicily. The repression of the revolt, the exile of many families, the burden of new taxes
and repeated epidemics caused the impoverishment of the city. The earth- quake in 1783 was the
final blow. The process of reconstruction was very slow, partly bacause of contin uous political
conflicts and changes in the regime. In the 19th c. Messina was a declining city. The achievement of
the Unification of Italy, with the sharp gap between north and south, made the situation even worse.
A sign of reviva1, at least of the port activities, was the institution of a regular ferry service to
Calabria, which continues even today. On 28 December 1908 another violent earthquake almost
completely destroyed Messina, killing about 60,000 persons. The lengthy and laborious prograrnme
of reconstruction aimed at the creation of a city with a modem grid layout, the protection and
restoration of the architectural and artistic testimonies that had survived the earthquake and above
all at guaranteeing the antiseisrnic qua1ities of the new buildings. Between the 1930s and the 1950s
buildings were constructed along the harbour front which, unlike the uninterrupted stretch of houses
that had stood there previously, now consisted of individuai constructions which reflected the lively
artistic and architectural trends of the period. The chaotic expansion of recent years has
particularly affected the S and N areas, giving rise to extensive suburban zones.
MONUMENTS
If we approach Messina from the Strait we see almost at the centre of the San Rainieri peninsula,
the San Raineri lighthouse or tower, built by G. An- gelo da Montorsoli (1555). Further along we
encounter another defence work: the fort of San Salvatore, designed by Antonio Ferramo1ino in the
30
16th c. Leaving the station and following Via I Settembre (formerly ViaAustria, laid out in the 16th
c.), we come to the Banca d'Italia (1924), on the corner with Via U. Bassi. The nearby building of
the Dogana (Customs House), constructed after the 1908 earthquake, preserves some of its original
structures and some art nouveau motifs. Between Via I Settembre and Via Garibaldi, which is the
main thoroughfare of the city , characterized by early 20th c. buildings, there is the Chiesa di Santa
Maria degli Alemanni, dating from the Swabian period, possibly from the early 13th c. It be1onged
to the order of the Knights of Jerusalem. The church was seriously damaged by the earthquakes of
1783 and 1908. Restoration work began only after World Warll. Stylistically the church reflects an
interest in Gothic models by architects who possibly came from the north, among the followers of
the re1igious orders. A basilica in plan, it has a nave and two ais1es, and three apses. Some
elements of the original sculpture work still remain, including the two portals (the latera1 one is
a1most entirely intact). Turning into Via Sant'Elia we come to the Church of the same name. built at
the end of the 17th c. The stuccos and frescoes in the interior have been damaged by natura1
disasters and show clear signs of restoration. Returning to Via Garibaldi. we come to the Chiesa di
Santa Caterina di Valverde which contains some sculptures ofthe 17th and 18th c. The crucifix on
the high altar (18th c.) is attributed to Santi Siracusa. We now arrive at Piazza Cairoli. where Via
Garibaldi terrninates; this is also the starting-point of the long Via1e San Martino. at the end of
which is the monumental Cemetery. designed by Leone Savoia (1872), in a magnificent natural
position, with a fine view over the sea. We return a1ong Via1e San Martino as far as the junction
with Via Madda1ena, which leads us to Via Cesare Battisti where, opposite Largo Avignone, we
can see part of the necropolis area (5th-2nd c. BC), over which this part of the city was built. We
proceed along Via Cesare Battisti and then Piazza Padre Francia, Via A. Martino, Piazza Lo Sardo
and Via Santa Maria until we reach the Chiesa di San Paolino. Built at the beginning of the 17th c.,
this church is the only almost intact example of the architecture of that age. The decoration of the
interior, which has survived the vicissitudes of earthquakes and wars, is enriched by stuccos and
frescoes dating from the flirst half ofthe 18th c. On the high altar there is a painting by Giovanni
Quagliata representing The Apparition ofthe Virgin Mary to St Paolino. Retuming to Piazza Lo
Sardo and entering Via Rifugio dei Poveri, we come to the Chiesa dello Spirito Santo, built in the
17th c. and almost total1y destroyed by the 1908 earthquake. Al1 that remains of the original church
is the portal and some decorative elements in the interior. From here we enter Via Imperiale, at the
far comer of which is the Chiesa del Carmine, centrally planned and designed by Cesare Bazzani in
the first decades ofthe 2Oth c.. Proceeding further, between Piazza Carducci and Piazza Marmolico,
we arrive at the Palazzo di Giustizia (Law Court), built in 1928 to the design of Marcello Piacentini.
The main facade looks out on to Piazza Maurolico, as also the University of Messina, which boasts
a long and illustrious tradition. Founded in 1548, it was suppressed by the Spaniards in 1679 and
reconstructed in 1838. Before the construction of its present site, the University was housed in the
Jesuit College, a magnificent building constructed in the ear1y 17th c. to the design of Nata1e
Masuccio, of which nothing remains but the portal in the lateral wing, opening into Via G.
Venezian. Fo1lowing this road we reach the square where the Duomo stands. The original building
dates from the Norman Age, from the last years of the reign of Roger II. The 1908 earthquake
almost completely destroyed it. It was rebuilt between 1919 and 1929 by Francesco Valenti but was
again damaged by bombing in the last war, so that today it appears as a building that has been
profoundly restructured, with some original elements. The original Norman structure is still visible
in the apsidal area. The far;ade, decorated by series of two-coloured bands, contains three lateGothic portals. The central one, probably dating from the early l5th c., is splendidly decorated in the
jambs, the lunette and the tympanum. The decoration of the architrave, probably the work of
Antonio Baboccio, consists of a sculpture of Christ among the Evangelists and, in the panels,
representations of human figures, animals and plants. The tympanum, added in 1468, with a scene
of the Coronation of the Virgin, was sculpted by Pietro di Bonitate. The other two portals in the
facade have an agile decoration of concentric acute arches with geometric and plant - shaped figures
and elements (15th c.). At the sides are two more fine portals, also finely decorated, attributed to
Polidoro da Caravaggio. The lofty campanile stands to the left of the Duomo. This amazing
31
structure, designed in the 1930s by the architect Francesco Valenti, contains an extraordinary
mechanical clock. The hours are marked on a dial in the upper part of the to'wer. At the lower levels
there are series of picturesque tableaux and automatic figures, which create an amazing spectacle
when midday strikes. Let us enter the Duomo. The interior develops longitudinally with one long
nave with two equally long aisles divided by two files of 28 columns, with a triapsidal sanctuary.
Totally reconstructed, it does however still present some decorative elements added during the
course of the centuries. In the right-hand aisle, at the foot of the transept, is the stairway leading
down to the crypt, whose five windows are situated below ground level under the apses. The
beamed ceiling of the nave was redone using the various fragments left by the earthquake. A much
restored l5th c. holy water stoup is situated at the beginning of the nave and another, dating from the
l6th c., is at the beginning of the left-hand aisle. Of the great marble ornamentation known as the
"Apostolate", which used to run along the side walls of the church, only the statue of St John the
Baptist, attributed to Antonello Gagini, now remains. The six chapels in each aisle are debatable
works of restoration. Between the left-hand aisle and the transept we can see what is left of the
tomb ofthefive 15th c. bishops. The great organ in the transept is another modem work (1948).
Behind the organ is the tombstone of Archbishop Palmer, an Englishman who died in 1195 -the
tombstone thus dates from the time of the foundation of the church. Inscribed upon it are three
medallions representing The Virgin Mary, Christ Enthroned and The Effigy of the Bishop.The altar
and the ciborium were rebuilt after World War Il. Beside the pillar of the main apse is the
reconstructed tomb of Archbishop Guidotto de Tabiatis, by Goro di Gregorio (14th c.). On the tomb
are representations of the recumbent figure of the deceased, Epiphany, Flagellation and The
Crucifixion. The sculpture and the decorations in the presbytery are all reconstructions on the basis
ofthe destroyed originals: thebaldachin by Quagliata (1628), the high altar, and the wooden choir by
Giorgio Veneziano (1540). The mosaics in the apse are also reconstructions: they represent, in the
vault, Christ Pantocrator; on the left the Archangel Michael and the Virgin Mary; and on the right
the Archangel Gabriel and St John. Among the items that survived the earthquake are a 15th c.
relief of The Penitence of St Jerome (left aisle), and the 17th c. funeral monument of Archbishop
Protro, situated in the left wing of the transept. The Chapel of the Sacrament, in the left apse, is
among the best pre- served works in the church. Designed and built at the end of the 16th c. by
Jacopo del Duca, its decorative elements are intensely scenographic. On the walls are angels and
prophets, and there are angels supporting festoons on the architrave. The mosaics on the vault have
been restored to their original14th c. state. They represent the Madonna and Child between Saints
Agata and Lucy, the Archangels Gabriel and Michael and Queens Eleonora and Elisabetta. In the
left-hand part of the transept is the tomb of Archbishop Antonio La Lignamine (16th c.), attributed
to G. B.Mazzolo. There are twelve original panels of the Gagini school, representing the Passion,
while the remaining parts have been reconstructed. Between thenave and the left-hand aisle is the
tomb of the Archbishop Bellorado, a l6th c. work by G. B. Mazzolo. Adjacent to this aisle is the
Sacristy, which is reached through a portal (1696) bearing the image ofSt Peter above the
architrave. Almost at the beginning of this left aisle, in a niche, is the l5th c. octagonal font,
decorated with inlay work and little columns. Near the Duomo is the admirable Fontana di Orione
(Fountain of Orion), by Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli (1547-1551). At the lower level of the
fountain are figures representing the Rivers Tiber, Nile, Ebro and Camaro, surrounded by putti,
shells and various other decorative elements. The central part is made up of female figures and
tritons. High above stands the figure of Orion, with dolphins and puttos. Also near the Duomo is a
monument dedicated to the Immaculate Virgin Mary (18th c.), a work by Giuseppe Buceti. Now, if
we tum into Via San Giacomo, we come to Palazzo Calapaj , an interesting example of 18th c.
Messinese architecture, one of the few to survive the earthquake. In the nearby Piazzetta dei
Catalani stands the Monument to Don John of Austria, erected in 1572-73 on the occasion of his
visit to Messina after his victory at Lepanto (1570). The bronze statue, by the sculptor Andrea
Calamecca, bears on the pedestal some commemorative in- scriptions and scenes of the Battle of
Lepanto. Opposite is the Chiesa dell' Annunziata dei Catalani. Built towards the end of the Nonnan
period, it was radically transfonned in the l3th c., when the long body of the nave was shortened and
32
the facade was created. The solid exterior is enlivened by the semicylindrical central apse, which
projects considerably, and by the body of the cupola emerging from a high drum. The decoration
running along the walls of the transept, on the apse and around the drum is lively and scenographic,
with a series of continuous blindarches, further enlivened by the many colours of the inlays. The
short nave and two aisles are separated by two agile columns; the triapsidal sanctuary is raised.
There is barrel vaulting over the nave, and cross vaulting over the aisles. Returning to Piazza
Duomo, we follow Corso Cavour and come to Via XXIV Maggio (fonnerly Via Monasteri),
anancient thoroughfare of the city which still possesses some architectural traces of great interest,
notwithstanding earthquakes and bombing. Between this road and Piazza Crisafulli is the Monte di
Pietà, one of the finest baroque buildings in Messina, part of which survived the great earthquake.
Its original con- struction dates from the 16th c., but in the following century it was modified by
Natale Masuccio. The entrance opens on to acourtyard, at the middle of which is afountain; the
courtyard leads to an atrium with a scenographic two-ramp stairway that goes up to the Chiesa della
Pietà, of which only the facade remains. Both the church and the stairway are by Placido Càmpolo
and Antonio Basile (18th c.). Proceeding along Via XXIV Maggio, we come to the Santuario di
Montevergine. The monastery (1634), designed by Andrea Suppa, was somewhat arbitrarily
restored after 1908. The church, built in about 1450 and dedicated to the Blessed Eustochia, whose
mortaI remains it preserves, presents a facade by Nicola and Antonio Maffei (sec. half 17th c.). It
has a single nave and animated decorative elements dating from the 18th c., now recomposed. From
Via XXlV Maggio, by way of Via San Cristoforo, we come to Via Romagnosi, where we can see
the Chapel of St Thomas the Apostle, possibly of Norman origin and modified in later centuries,
particularly the 16th. Between Corso Cavour and Via San Cristoforo is the Chiesa dll' Annunziata,
rebuilt in 1930 on the site of the Annunziata dei Teat ni. Two interesting 18th c. works are
conserved here: a wooden crucifix and a small statue of Our Lady of Sorrows. The high altar,
splendidly decorated with multicoloured variegated marble, is also noteworthy. The door of the
embossed silver tabemacle ( 17th c.) presents the Su per of Emmaus. The Teatro Vittorio Emanuele,
in Corso Cavour, was built in 1852 to the project of Pietro Valente; it was damaged in the
earthquake in 1908 and later restored. We proceed further along Corso Cavour as far as Viale
Boccetta, overlooked by the mediaeval Chiesa di San Francesco, built on the orders of the
Countesses Violante Polizzi, Beatrice Belfiore and Eleonora da Pr6cida. It was almost entirely
razed to the ground by the earthquake in 1908 and then rebuilt. The exterior is severe in style;
internal1y it has a single nave and a raised triapsidal sanctuary . We now fol1ow Via Boccetta to
Piazza Sequenza. From here, by way of Via Concezione, we pass by Villa Mazzini and enter Via
Giovanni di Malta at the end of which is the 16th c. Chiesa di San Giovanni di Malta, the work of
Camil1o Camil1iani and Jacopo del Duca. Almost entirely destroyed in 1908, also this church was
rebuilt. Nearby is the Palazzo della Prefettura, built in the 1920s to the project of Cesare Bazzani.
Opposite is the Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain ofNeptune ), by Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli (1557),
decorated by animated figures of great dramatic force (the originaI sculptures are kept in the
Regional Museum). Near the fountain is the bronze statue of Ferdinand II of Bourbon, a work by
Pietro Tenerani (1857). Returning to Via Concezione, we fol1ow it as far as Piazza San Vincenzo,
where we can see the remains ofthe 16thc. Bastions of the city walls. We now enter Via Quod
Quaeris at the end of which is the Chiesa di Santa Maria la Nuova, rebuilt in the 1930s by the
architect G. Viola. We retum to Piazza San Vincenzo, fol1owing Via Garibaldi as far as Piazza
Castronuovo, and enter Viale del1a Libertà, which terminates at the Regional Museum, instituted in
1914, using the col1ections of the Peloritan Civic Museum and items from churches and palaces
that had been destroyed. It contains works of exceptional historic and artistic value from the 13th to
the 18th c. Among the paintings there are the masterpieces The Nativity and The Raising of
Lazarus, by Caravaggio, The Beheading of John the Baptist, attributed to Mario Minniti, a St Lucy
by Ludovico Carracci, the splendid polyptych of St Gregory, by Antonel1o da Messina (1473), and
a painting of St Lucy, attributed to Carlo Sellitto. Among the very interesting sculptures, besides a
large amount of archaeological material, there are works by Antonello Gagini, a Madonna and
Child attributed to Francesco Laurana (15th c.), and the originai statues of Scylla and Neptune, by
33
Montòrsoli, originally part of the Fountain of Neptune. A separate section is devoted to the a plied
arts.
Milazzo
HISTORY
The city of Mulai (Mylae, in the Roman Age) was founded by the Greeks of Zanc1e (Messina) in
716 BC, on the site of an ancient Neolithic settlement. It passed under the control of Agathocles
(315 BC) and later Hieron II (270 BC), both tyrants of Syracuse. In the 3rd c. BC the city was the
scene of the war between Romans and Carthaginians. It was then occupied by the Byzantines (15th
c.) and subsequently underwent domination in turn by the Arabs, Normans, Swabians, Angevins
and the Aragonese. In the 17th c. Mi1azzo was divided into three distinct parts: the walled city , the
suburb, and the lower city. A long boundary wall separated the first and the second, while the
Spanish quarter separated the second and the third. During the 18th and 19th c. the city extended
over the plain, maintaining a typically baroque urban layout. The bomb-damage of World War II
and somewhat irrational reconstruction work have considerably altered the appearance of Milazzo,
which still however remains a pleasant city of great artistic and historical interest, much frequented
by tourists because of its beaches and also because it is the port for the Aeolian Islands.
MONUMENTS
We pass through the lower part of the city, built in the 2Oth c. and enter the old city by way of Via
Crispi. Here we see the elegant 19th c. Town Hall standing where previously there was a wing of
the 16th c. Carmelite Convent. In Piazza Duilio we can admire the 18th c. main facade of this
Convent, and the Chiesa del Càrmine. In Via Medici we can see the 15th c. Chiesa di San Giacomo
Apostolo, which contains the altar from the old cathedral and various 17th c. and 18th c. paintings.
Nearby is Via Cumbo Borgia with the new Cathedral, built in the 2Oth c. Here we can admire some
fine altar- pieces by 15th c. artists from Messina. The Sanctuary of San Francesco di Pàola is of
considerable interest. It is reached by a sumptuous 18th c. twin stairway. Built in the 18th c., and
incorporating the stuctures of a 15th c. oratory, it boasts a fine 17th c. portal; it also con- tains a
number of excellent paintings, including a Madonna delle Grazie from the Gagini workshop. The
Chiesa della Madonna del Rosario, in Via San Domenico, built in the 16th c. and later frequently
altered, also contains some good 18th c. paintings as well as a fine baroque tabemacle. The rock
sanctuary of Sant' Antonio da Pàdova is interesting not only artistically but also historically, as St
Anthony took refuge here in 1221. Sa1ita Castello leads us up to the oldest part of Milazzo: we go
through the Spanish boundary wall and enter the walled city, where we can adrnire the Old
Cathedral, the Castle and the ancient palaces of the notables of bygone days. The Old Cathedral is a
majestic 17th c. building, in need of the restoration now under way. Nearby is the 14th c. Palazzo
34
dei Giurati, formerly the seat of the Senate and the Town Hall. Having passed through the
Aragonese boundary wall, we arrive at the Castle, a powerful defensive construction, completed in
the l3th c. under Frederick IIl. Inside we can admire the Parliament Hall, which has interesting
architectural features. Our visit can continue with the l7th c. Chiesa dell'Immacolata, the l6th Chiesa
di San Rocco and the l7th c. Chiesa di San Papino. But it would not be complete with- out a pause
outside the numerous 17th and 18th c. palaces which grace the city. The archaeology of Milazzo is
equally interesting. This includes a Bronze Age necropolis, a proto-Villanovan urnfield (10th-8th c.
BC) near Piazza Roma, and another necropolis which contained the graves of skeletons and pottery
items (14th- l3th c. BC) in Via Praticella. From Milazzo there are frequent ferry and hydrofoil
services to the Aeolian Islands and Messina, and we also recomrnend a trip around the Milazzo
headland, to see the Grotta di Polifemo (Polyphemus' cave), and Tìndari.
Giardini Naxos
HISTORY
The history of Giardini is closely linked with that of the city of Naxos, the first Greek colony in
Sicily. Having declined under the Byzantines, it slowly regained its importance until it gradually
grew into a leading tourist resort during the 19th c., a position which it has consolidated today.
MONUMENTS
As we enter the town, we encounter the Chiesa di Santa Marìa Raccomandata, on which
construction began in the 18th c. and continued in the 19th c. It contains a font (1703) and a panel
painting of the Madonna di Porto Salvo (1573) which used to be in a church of the same name
which no longer exists. Proceeding in the direction of Schiso’ headland we come to the
Archaeological Museum, which displays various material from local excavations.
Taormina
HISTORY
When nearby Naxos was destroyed by Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, in 358 BC, a group of
survivors founded the Greek city called Tauromenion; the acropolis was at the sumrnit of Monte
Tauro and the agora where Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II is situated today. The town expanded
considerably in Roman times; butin the last decades of the Ist c. BC Octavian punished its
inhabitants for helping Sextus Pompey, deporting them and reducing the town to the level of a
colony; Taormina thus began to de- cline, until the Byzantines reversed its fortunes when they
chose it as the capital of E Sicily. The Arabs destroyed it twice, in 902 and 962, after which they
partially rebuilt it. Under the Norman domination the town spread to the area known as the Borgo,
and it developed further in the 13-15th c. Taormina has however developed most in the 19th c.,
becoming an internationally renowned tourist resort. Its scenery, together with the three columns of
the Temple of the Diòscuri at Agrigento, the Arab cupolas of San Giovanni degli Eremiti in
Palermo, and the moving clock-tower outside Messina Cathedral, are all stamped together in the
collective imagination as desirable places to be visited.
MONUMENTS
The first thing that everybody wants to see on flrst arriving at Taormina is the scenario of the
theatre with the panorarnic view behind it of Etna and the sea. Normally, to reach the theatre, the
visitor passes slowly through the town, where there is a great deal to see -we however will go
straight to it. The Theatre is in Via Teatro Greco, and it is truly magnificent; built in Hellenistic
times and then almost completely reconstructed by the Romans, it is the second largest classical
theatre in Sicily (max. diameter 109 m), only surpassed by that of Syracuse. From high in the cavea
(the horseshoe shaped auditorium) and even better from the terraces above the stage, one can enjoy
an unforgettable panorama. On the E side ofthe cavea are the ruins of a little temple, and a little
further off there is a small restructured Antiquarium, with archaeological finds from the Taormina
area. If we enter the town from the N, by way of Porta Messina (having used, for example, the
cableway from Mazzarò, or the motorway), we immediately arrive in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele.
Here stands Palazzo Corvaja (seat of the first Sicilian parliament, 1411 ), the most ancient part of
35
which is an Arab tower, the nucleus ofwhich was extended by the Normans and later in the 14-15th
c. Nearby is the 17th c. Chiesa di Santa Caterina, constructed on visible parts of a Hellenistic
temple; behind this church are the remains of the Ro- man Odeum, dating from the Imperial Age,
which itself stands on the same Hellenistic remains. Just before Porta Messina is the Chiesa di San
Pancrazio, built on the ruins of the Hellenistic tempie of Jupiter Serapis, the walls of which are still
discemible in the side walls oft he Christian church. The Via Teatro Greco is to the left of Piazza
Vittorio Emanuele. Some visitors, either singly orin par- ties, arrive from the W approach, through
Porta Catania. This is near the Post Office, which is handy for anybody wanting to send a few
postcards. Also not far off, in Via de Spuches, is the Palazzo dei Duchi di Santo Stèfano (13th c.,
built over a pre-existing Islam structure ), now the seat of the Giuseppe Mazzullo Foundation,
which has a perrnanent exhibition of the works of this sculptor, who was bom in the Province of
Messina, at Graniti, in 1913 (d. 1988). The Foundation is also used for cultural meetings. We can
now tum into Corso Umberto and reach the Cathedral, or e1se tum right for the Convento di San
Domènico (now a de-luxe hotel), which stilI preserves part of the l6th c. cloister, the l7 -18th
carnpanile, and monastic fumishings from the intemal rooms. The Villa Comunale (Town Gardens)
is quite near here. The Cathedral, St Nicholas, 13th c., a severe, battlemented construction, rebuilt in
the 15th and 16th c. and again altered in the 18th c., has a composite façade, with a portal, singlelight windows and a rose window. It as a nave and two aisles separated by columns supporting the
arches; above the altars we can see The Visitation (a panel painting by Antonino Giuffre, l463), a
polyptych (by Antonello de Saliba, l504), The Madonna and Child (Gagini school, l500), and St
Agata (by Martino Montanini, 16th c.). In the bishop's chair, near the high altar, are column-bearing
lions and the arms of the town, which are also symbolized by the bull woman standing above the
baroque fountain, which must already have been noticed outside the square. From the Corso, a short
passageway leads to the Naumachìe, a wide Roman terrace ( with the tank for the aqueduct ofthe
time). Further along Corso Umberto, among bars, shops and souvenirs, we at once see 15th c.
Palazzo Ciàmpoli, with a stairway leading up to it; and soon we arrive at Piazza IX Aprile and the
late mediaeval Porta di Mezzo, altered in the 17th c.; this gate is in fact an opening in the Clock
Tower. We are now in the mediaeval quarter of the Borgo. Here also is the Town Library in the
former Chiesa di Sant' Agostino, where there is an altar-piece representing St Sebastian. The bypass road, which can be reached from here, leads us to the Badìa Vecchia (Old Abbey) or Badiazza,
a Norman fortification altered in the 14th c.; this road also takes us, by way of Via Castelmola, to
Taormina Castle, on Monte Tauro (298 m).
Savoca
HISTORY
The town is recorded with its present name in 1415, but it probably dates from the first half of the
12th c., when a Norman fortress was built. The name Sàvoca would appear to be derived from the
"sambuchi", i.e. eldertrees (sambucus in Latin, from which Sàbuca, Sàvoca), which are still
plentiful in the area.
MONUMENTS
We can first of all go to the little square where the Chiesa Madre, dedicated to Our Lady of the
Assumption, stands. Here we can enjoy a wide panoramic view of the coast and the sea. Then,
refreshed by this fine natural sight and the cool clean air, we can enter the shade of the church,
which is 15th c. in origin; there is also a 16th c. holy water stoup and a panel painting of The
Archangel St Michael (also 16th c.). Other churches worth seeing are in the vicinity: San Nicolò,
also known as Santa Lucìa (there is a 16th c. bust of St Lucy over the main portal), and San Michele
(15th c.), with a panel painting of the saint (also 15th c.) and an 18th c. pulpit. (The 16th c. outside
portals are also noteworthy.)
36