The most important private palace in Catania and precious testimony of the Sicilian baroque. The frescoed halls, full of charm and elegance, represent a splendid setting for concerts, meetings, receptions, gala evenings, fashion shows.
The "Allied Landings in Sicily Museum" (Museo Storico dello Sbarco in Sicilia 1943) is housed in one of the buildings forming the "Ciminiere" cultural centre. The museum narrates the events that took place in Sicily from 10 July to 8 September 1943. This period is still recent history, only seventy years have passed and many senior citizens can still recount the experience. Everything that we...
The house of the cloistered nuns of Saint Benedict was built from April 1334, then it was razed to the ground by the earthquake of 1693, which spared only five out of the sixty religious who used to inhabit it. The church and the monastery were rebuilt between 1708 and 1763, thanks to the work of, among others, the architect G.B. Vaccarini and the painter from Messina G. Tuccari. A large part of...
Il Monastero di San Nicolo l'Arena di Catania (#monasterocatania), gioiello del tardo barocco siciliano e tra i complessi benedettini piu' grandi d'Europa. L'edificio monastico, che nasce nel '500 e si sviluppa fino ai giorni nostri, e' un esempio di integrazione architettonica tra le epoche: contraddistinto da molteplici trasformazioni oggi e' patrimonio mondiale dell'Unesco. Sede del DiSUM...
Sicily's greatest natural attraction is also its highest mountain: Mount Etna, at 10,990 feet, is the most active volcano in Europe and the oldest recorded active volcano in the world.
Opened to the public in May 2012, Palazzo Branciforte, which extends over an area of 5.650 square meters, houses some of the Fondazione Sicilia important collections. On display on the ground floor is the archaeological collection; the main floor houses the stamp, coin and sculpture collections, along with the historical Library which preserves about 50,000 books from the Fondazione Sicilia...
One of the biggest opera houses in Europe, Teatro Massimo is renowned for its excellent acoustiscs and holds over 1,300 seats.The venue hosts more than 130 music, opera and dance events every year.The exteriors are in neo-classical style with influences from Greek Sicilian temples, while the interiors are art-nouveau.
Historic building of the fifteenth century, with frescoes and furnishings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It displays around 300 works of art from the 12th to the 19th century in 12 rooms. 11 rooms belong to "Le Stanze dei Vescovi", the noble floor of the Archbishop's Palace, with the Alcova of Cardinal Gravina and the Sala Borremans entirely freshly painted in 1733.
This grand square features a splendid fountain, erected during the heyday of the Spanish Inquisition, which features sixteen statues that are nudes of nymphs, humans, mermaids and satyrs; truly a surprise that this type of art was permitted during that dark time in history.
This cathedral was started in 1185 by the norman archbishop Gualtiero Offamilio. You can visit the Royal and Imperial tomb of Frederik the II, the urn with the relics of the patron Saint of Palermo Santa Rosalia, plus a treasury with a precious medieval crown and a crypt from the VII century. The church is free to enter, there is a ticket to access the monumental area composed by royal tombs,...
