Tag: baroque
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Another Flower in the Stone Garden
The off-the-beaten-path town of Scicli is a jewel among the “Stone Garden,” Baroque, UNESCO-designated-area of south-eastern Sicily. Like Modica, Ragusa, and Noto, Scicli suffered from the great earthquake of 1693 and much of it was rebuilt in the following century in the Sicilian Baroque style. (Photo Credit: Experience Sicily’s Filippo Buttitta)
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Even the Roofs are Art
Roofs from the Late-Baroque Era reconstructed town of Ragusa Ibla, Sicily. Ragusa Ibla is part of the Val di Noto, multi-town-group UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Photo Credit: Experience Sicily’s Filippo Buttitta)
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It’s All About that Bass Viol
Statue of bass viola da gamba player, Villa Palagonia, Bagheria. Listen live to my music duo Villa Palagonia on Chicago’s WFMT.com at 8PM CST tonight, 7 February 2015. It’s a one-hour concert of our brand of Sicilian inspired acoustic world folk music.
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Holy Family
Sicilians and Italians spend today, Saint Stephen’s Day, visiting presepi, or nativity scenes–traditional, ancient, and modern as well as tiny, life-size, and live (i.e. presented by actors accompanied by live animals)! This inlaid marble alter image depicting the Holy Family is from Palermo’s Monumentale Chiesa dell’immacolata Concezione, a masterpiece of baroque architecture built in 1612.
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Fountain of Trigona
The Trigona family is one of the historic baronial families of Sicily. Like many noble clans during feudal times, they possessed many properties throughout the island–a palace in Palermo, an out-of-town mansion in Sant’Elia (near Santa Flavia and Bagheria), and a country estate in Sicily’s hinterland. This fountain is on the property of their country…
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Villa Palagonia: Guitarist
Statue of musician with a Spanish Guitar, Villa Palagonia, 18th century.
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Baroque Beauty
Blue skies and fresh wind kissed us today during our visit to Siracusa where the Duomo, once a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, presides over one of Italy’s most picturesque Baroque piazzas.
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Richly Sculpted Surfaces Ahead
The dizzying Baroque decorations of the Church of Santa Caterina (1580-1596) on Palermo’s Piazza Bellini feature multicolored marble inlay and lots of curves.
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Summer at Palermo’s Quattro Canti
At the center of Palermo, the intersection of Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Via Maqueda is called Quattro Canti, or Four Corners. Quattro Canti is octagonal in shape, and it is flanked by four 18th century Baroque facades, each with a fountain and a series of statues. On the first level–the street level–are images representing the…