The Baroque City
Chiesa di San Paolo
Devastated by the 1693 earthquake, the 18th century Palazzolo rose from the ashes with splendid monuments, churches and distinguished palaces that were true works of art. Chiesa Madre, dedicated to St Nicholas; the interior has a nave and two aisles on a Latin Cross layout, with a dome. Chiesa di San Paolo was built over the ruins of Santa Sofia. Its best feature is the Baroque-style façade. It is three stories high and features a vestry. Here St Paul the Apostle is worshipped, after becoming patron saint of Palazzolo Acreide in 1688.
Palazzo Zocco features a number of interesting ledges. Chiesa dell’Annunziata, one of the oldest in Palazzolo. Rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake, this church was designed with a more majestic, three-aisle layout. It is famous for the three works of art which distinguish it. These are the coloured marble high altar, with an allegory of Spring, the 17th century Baroque portal with intertwining columns and the Annunciation by Antonello da Messina, now on display at the Museo Bellomo in Syracuse.
Palazzo Iudica-Cafici featuring the longest Baroque balcony in the world. Palazzo Cappellani, from the early 20th century, which houses the Iudica Collection.
Chiesa di San Sebastiano, with its stunning steps and luxurious three-storey façade. The interior has a nave and two aisles, that feature prized stuccoes from 1783 and countless paintings, including Vito d’Anna’s Santa Margherita da Cortona.
Particolare della facciata di S. Paolo
Palazzo Municipale, built on the site of the 19th century Benedictine Convent. The Palazzo Municipale is in the neo-classical style, with certain Liberty-style carvings.
The 16th century Palazzo Ferla-Bonelli, the Casa Museo, bears witness to the ethno-anthropological tradition of rural culture, owes its origins to the enthusiasm and dedication of Antonino Uccello.
The Chiesa dell’Immacolata features a suave and unusual convex façade, and is unique among all the churches in Palazzolo. The interior is enriched by Francesco Laurana’s superb statue of a Madonna col Bambino.
The Palazzo Pizzo-Guglielmino is a splendid example of a Baroque middle class home; a little further along is the Palazzo Judica from the 19th century that bears witness to late Baroque architecture and features very definite neo-classical decorations. Alongside this palace sits another beautifully built mansion from the same period by Messina-Ruiz.
Villa Comunale, with its lush gardens that amaze visitors with the variety and beauty of the flowers on show.
It is a true oasis of green and can also be considered a botanical garden because of the vast variety and rarity value of some of the shrubbery and bushes growing there.
Church and Monastery of the Franciscan fathers. The church was built recently. The interior featuring only one aisle has six very distinguished marbled altars.
The Cimitero Monumentale, was completed in 1896 and is embellished with aristocratic tombs, mausoleums, middle class tombs and small monuments and simple gravestones. The most distinguished aristocratic tombs are well worth mention and offer the visitor the opportunity to admire various Liberty and Gothic style works of art.
History, art and culture
On the Acremonte plain, the ancient Greeks built Akrai to defend Syracuse. Set in this crown is the jewel of the “smallest Greek theatre in the world” and the Temple of Cybele.
The modern city charms visitors with its churches, extraordinary Baroque architecture and wonderful interiors, designed and built by unknown persons and craftsmen, whose skills are those of real masters. In the church of Our Lady of the Annunciation, Antonello da Messina gave the world one of the most famous paintings in the history of art – The Annunciation, now housed in the Museo Bellomo in Syracuse. The church of the Immaculate Conception still houses an exceptional Madonna con Bambino by Laurana, one of the distinguished sculptor’s most inspiring works.
No less striking are several buildings in Liberty style.
Visitors to the ancient quarters surrounding the Orologio and Castello are faced with long, winding steps and alleys made of white basalt.
The Castello is built over the ruins of a mediæval fortress. Both afford a spectacular view over the Valle dell’Anapo, an area of unalloyed natural and scenic beauty.
A visit to the Cemetery offers visitors the chance of enjoying a view of aristocratic burial chambers, handcrafted by local master stonemasons.
The Gardens are the city’s pride and joy and a wide range of flora and rare shrubs flourish here.
UNESCO INSCRIPTION
Late Baroque towns of the Val di Noto
Inscription N° 23.17 2002 C (i) (ii) (iv) (v)
“… Needs must you turn towards Palazzolo Acreide where you will admire not only the splendour of its 18th century architecture but where the Grecian ruins will also seduce and tempt you.
Gesualdo Bufalino, an extract from Fiele Ibleo.
Palazzolo Acreide, together with a further 7 cities in South-eastern Sicily, has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Inscription was for the following reasons –
Criterion (i): This group of towns in South-eastern Sicily provides outstanding testimony to the exuberant genius of late Baroque art and architecture.
Criterion (ii): The cities of the Val di Noto represent the culmination and final flowering of Baroque art in Europe.
Criterion (iv): The exceptional quality of the late Baroque art and architecture in the Val di Noto lies in its geographical and chronological homogeneity, as well as its quantity, the result of the 1693 earthquake in this region.
Criterion (v): The eight cities of South-eastern Sicily that make up this inscription, which are characteristic of the settlement pattern and urban form of this region, are permanently at risk from earthquakes and eruptions of Mount Etna.
The eight towns of South-eastern Sicily (Caltagirone, Militello Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo, Ragusa Ibla and Scicli) were all rebuilt after 1693 over or near the ruins of the ones destroyed during the earthquake of the same year. They are the results of remarkable social commitment, successfully carried out and showing startling architectural and artistic expertise. Working purely in a late Baroque style, they show some distinctive building and town planning features.
