Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto
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How it came to be
On the night of 11 January 1693 a great earthquake struck south-eastern Sicily. Its estimated magnitude of 7.4 makes it the strongest in recorded Italian history, and at least 70 towns were devastated. Official records of the time counted about 12,000 dead in Catania alone, 63% of its people.
Sicily was then ruled by the kings of Spain, and the viceroy, the Duke of Uceda, put Giuseppe Lanza, Duke of Camastra, in charge of the recovery. The towns were rebuilt in three ways. Noto abandoned its old site for a new one, Catania was rebuilt in place on a new plan, and Ragusa added a new centre beside the old town.
New Noto was laid out on a grid by Giovanni Battista Landolina, using the slope for scenic effect. The architect Rosario Gagliardi, born in Syracuse in 1698, became the town's municipal architect and designed churches such as San Domenico (1727). In 2002 eight towns, Caltagirone, Militello in Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa and Scicli, were inscribed as a World Heritage site.
Travellers who came here
- 1787-05
In the museum of Prince Biscari's palace he saw ancient marbles and bronzes, and was especially taken with a torso of Jupiter.
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