Illustration 1: Sicilian Baroque. Basilica della Collegiata in Catania, designed by Stefano Ittar, c. 1768.
Sicilian Baroque is the distinctive form of Baroque architecture which evolved on the island of Sicily, off the southern coast of Italy, in the 17th and 18th centuries, when it was part of the Spanish Empire. The style is recognisable not only by its typical Baroque curves and flourishes, but also by distinctive grinning masks and putti and a particular flamboyance that has given Sicily a unique architectural identity.
The Sicilian Baroque style came to fruition during a major surge of rebuilding following the massive earthquake in 1693. Previously, the Baroque style had been used on the island in a naïve and parochial manner, having evolved from hybrid native architecture rather than being derived from the great Baroque architects of Rome. After the earthquake, local architects, many of them trained in Rome, were given plentiful opportunities to recreate the more sophisticated Baroque architecture that had become popular in mainland Italy; the work of these local architects – and the new genre of architectural engravings that they pioneered – inspired more local architects to follow their lead. Around 1730, Sicilian architects had developed a confidence in their use of the Baroque style. Their particular interpretation led to further evolution to a personalised and highly localised art form on the island. From the 1780s onwards, the style was gradually replaced by the newly fashionable neoclassicism.
The highly decorative Sicilian Baroque period lasted barely fifty years, and perfectly reflected the social order of the island at a time when, nominally ruled by Spain, it was in fact governed by a wealthy and often extravagant aristocracy into whose hands ownership of the primarily agricultural economy was highly concentrated. Its Baroque architecture gives the island an architectural character that has lasted into the 21st century.
SicilianBaroque is the distinctive form of Baroque architecture which evolved on the island of Sicily, off the southern coast of Italy, in the 17th and...
practitioners of the SicilianBaroque, including Giovanni Battista Vaccarini, Andrea Palma, and Giuseppe Venanzio Marvuglia. The last phase of Baroque architecture...
Pombaline architecture in Lisbon following the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and SicilianBaroque in Sicily following the 1693 earthquake. In the Spanish East Indies...
Sicily (Italian: Sicilia, pronounced [siˈtʃiːlja] ; Sicilian: Sicilia, [sɪˈ(t)ʃiːlja] ) is the largest and most populous island in the Mediterranean Sea...
the calamity in what is a typical and highly preserved example of Sicilianbaroque. The layout followed a grid system by Giovanni Battista Landolina and...
cathedral in Noto in Sicily, Italy. Its construction, in the style of the SicilianBaroque, began in the early 18th century and was completed in 1776. It is dedicated...
architect Andrea Palma in 1725–1753. The style is classified as High SicilianBaroque, a relatively late example. The double order of Corinthian columns...
in the towns of Sicily and Malta, a style that has become known as SicilianBaroque. At this time many of the palazzi, public buildings, cathedrals and...
Catania (/kəˈtɑːniə/, also UK: /-ˈteɪn-/, US: /-ˈtæn-/, Sicilian and Italian: [kaˈtaːnja] ) is the second-largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo...
Church of Maria SS. dell'Intria, an example of SicilianBaroque. Church of Badia Nuova, a small Baroque church. Castello di Terra, a ruined 12th-century...
the SicilianBaroque. Despite never leaving Sicily, his work showed great understanding of the style, but was a progression from the style of baroque as...
monuments in the SicilianBaroque style. San Giorgio is the cathedral, dedicated to St George. While the cathedral was rebuilt in a Baroque-style following...
a deep interest in SicilianBaroque architecture, and in 1968 he wrote the only authoritative and in-depth book on SicilianBaroque. From 1962 he was engaged...
catastrophic earthquake in 1693, much of the town was rebuilt in the Sicilianbaroque style, which today gives the town the elegant appearance which draws...
the SicilianBaroque style; the most notable of which is the town of Noto itself, which is now a popular tourist destination due to its fine Baroque architecture...
1693 earthquake and rebuilt on the same spot as the old ruins in the SicilianBaroque style. The United States Air Force deployed Ground Launched Cruise...
‘Deception unmasked’ (after 1750). Giacomo Serpotta was the outstanding SicilianBaroque sculptor and known particularly for his stucco figures and decorations...
Bagheria (Italian pronunciation: [baɡeˈriːa]; Sicilian: Baarìa [baːˈɾiːa]) is a city and comune in the Metropolitan City of Palermo in Sicily, located...
Caltanissetta (pronounced [kaltanisˈsetta] ; Sicilian: Nissa or Cartanissetta) is a municipality in the central interior of Sicily, Italy, and the capital...
Etruscan and Ancient Roman architecture to Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical, Art Nouveau, Fascist, and Italian modern and contemporary...
Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque and Art Nouveau churches, palaces and buildings, and its nightlife and music. Palermo is the main Sicilian industrial and commercial...
Beneventano, the palace was rebuilt mainly between 1779 and 1788 in the SicilianBaroque style. Beneventano commissioned the design from the architect Luciano...
important civil and military construction programme was promoted by the Sicilian king, Frederick II, who was Holy Roman Emperor and through his mother Constance...
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