Sicilian baroque

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Facade of the Cathedral of Syracuse by Andrea Palma (1728)
62 m high convex facade of the Duomo di San Giorgio in Modica by Rosario Gagliardi

Sicilian Baroque is a collective term for the architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries, which local and foreign architects created under Aragonese and Bourbon rule in the Kingdom of Sicily . In particular, it describes the style in which the towns of the Val di Noto (administrative unit in the southeast of the island) were rebuilt after the severe earthquake of 1693 .

development

The Sicilian Baroque could only develop when entire cities and a large number of destroyed buildings had to be rebuilt after the severe earthquake in Val di Noto in 1693. Before that, the baroque style was only found in a simple and severely pruned way, as it was built by Sicilian architects and not by the great baroque artists from Rome .

After the earthquake, a new generation of architects who had spent their apprenticeship in Rome had the opportunity to construct buildings in a more progressive Baroque style. At that time, baroque architecture was already enjoying great popularity on the Italian mainland. The work that these architects carried out in Sicily from then on led many other Sicilian architects to follow their example. As early as 1730, the island could no longer be imagined without the architectural style. It had become a fixture in Sicilian architecture, not without developing its own features. Fifty years later, however, the Sicilian baroque was gradually being replaced by a more modern architectural style, classicism .

The heyday of the Sicilian Baroque lasted less than fifty years and reflected the social fabric of that time. The island was officially under Spanish rule at that time and was ruled by an aristocratic upper class, especially in the west. The population lived from agriculture.

The Sicilian baroque architecture gives the country a special character. The late baroque towns of Val di Noto were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2002 .

features

Quattro Canti in Palermo : Concave facade by Giulio Lasso (1608)
105 m long nave of the Chiesa di San Nicolò l'Arena in Catania by Giovan Battista Contini
Arabo moderno style on the 210 m long south facade of the Monastero di San Nicolò l'Arena
Facade of the Duomo di San Giorgio in Ragusa Ibla by Rosario Gagliardi
Concave facade of the Collegiata in Catania by Stefan Ittar (1768)

The baroque style is a European peculiarity that originated in Italy in the 17th century . It is highly ornate and playful in connection with sculptures and the so-called chiaroscuro effect , a conscious play of light and shadow.

On the island, the Sicilian baroque was often limited to churches or palace buildings of the aristocratic upper class. The first representatives of the Sicilian Baroque lacked an independent style and were basically just copies of buildings in Rome , Florence and Naples . Nevertheless, the Sicilian architects had already started at this early stage of development to incorporate typical local features of the past architectural style into the new architectural style. In the middle of the 18th century, when the Sicilian Baroque was already very different from the Italian Baroque, it had the following characteristic features:

Masks and putti

They can often be found on balconies, moldings or columns. These mostly smiling or smiling faces come from the Sicilian architecture of the 17th century.

Balconies

After 1633, they were often provided with wrought iron railings. Previously, these railings were not used for balconies.

Outside stairs

Most of the villas and palaces were built so that they could be entered through an external archway. This archway led to the building's inner courtyard. There you found a double staircase that led from the courtyard up to the piano nobile . In this way one could reach the first floor of the palazzo. The symmetrical wing of the stairs winds four times both inwards and outwards. The elevated position of churches also often made it necessary to build a staircase with many steps. Elongated marble steps were used for this, similar to the Spanish Steps in Rome.

Arched facades

Sloping, inwardly or outwardly arched facades are another typical feature. Occasionally one also finds villas or palazzi in which a staircase was fitted into the facade corners created in this way.

Bell towers

Bell towers were not erected next to the church, as is common in Italy, but directly on top of the church. The bells were not hidden in the tower either, but showed them openly and integrated them into the facade. Both churches with one bell (e.g. the Collegiata in Catania ) and churches with several bells that were hung within a small arcade row (e.g. the Chiesa di San Giuseppe in Ragusa Ibla ) were built.

Marble inlays

In churches one often finds inlaid marble on the walls and floors. This special type of inlay also only developed in Sicily from the 17th century.

columns

They support the round arches of the facades and are often single. They come from the much more sober Norman architectural style that was previously found in Sicily. Rows of columns are rarely found in Sicily, any more than in the rest of Europe.

Hewn stone surfaces

Since the late 16th century, Sicilian architects have been decorating stone surfaces with reliefs of foliage, fish scales, and even sweets or shells. Shells in particular later became a common decorative element in the Baroque style. Sometimes these decorations were placed not only on walls, but also on pillars.

Lava stone

The locally occurring lava stone was used for the construction of many Sicilian baroque buildings because it was in abundance. The black or gray inclusions in the rock were used for decoration and underline the baroque's love for light and shadow plays.

Spanish influence

The influence of Spanish rule shaped the design of the architectural style significantly, although not as strongly as the Norman rule before it. The Spanish architectural style, a somewhat less elaborate version of the French Renaissance style , can be found particularly in the eastern part of Sicily. Resistance to Spanish rule was lowest there, which was not least due to the high military presence. Messina's imposing Porta Grazia , built in 1680, marked the entrance to a Spanish citadel. The extremely ornate architectural style of this city gate became the common architectural style in the entire area around Catania after the earthquake.

Summary

All of these features never appear on the same building at the same time. Viewed individually, they also do not mark a special baroque style, but rather the unmistakable mixture of these characteristics results in the Sicilian baroque. Other features such as arches over windows and doors as well as the erection of unusual statues can be found all over Europe, but are not a special feature of Sicilian baroque architecture.

Well-known architects

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