The Hyblean Baroque in the “Val di Noto”

The Val di Noto, which roughly corresponds to the provinces of Catania, Syracuse and Ragusa, was one of the three administrative areas (Valleys) into which Sicily was divided during the Arab period:Val Demone, Val di Mazara, Val di Noto. The strong earthquake of 1693, whose intensity today is estimated at 7.3 on the Richter scale, killed about 93,000 people and devastated the entire Val di Noto territory, destroying houses, monuments and infrastructure.
In the following years, some towns were rebuilt on the same site, while others were rebuilt in a different location.
Not only the greatest architects of the period participated in this reconstruction, but also master builders, sculptors and decorators who, thanks to “treatises” (such as Sebastiano Serlio’s “treatise on architecture”), gave life to the great late Baroque masterpiece of the Val di Noto. This area was reborn with extraordinary and fascinating peculiarities that allow it to be redefined as the “Val del Barocco” (Baroque Valley) due to the unique and continuous nature of the buildings and urban environments of the Val di Noto.

Dettaglio della facciata di Palazzo Beneventano, Scicli
Dettaglio della facciata della Chiesa di San Domenico

Since 2002, the Val di Noto has been included in the UNESCO “World Heritage List” with the following motivation:
“This group of towns in south-eastern Sicily provides remarkable evidence of the exuberant genius of late Baroque art and architecture.
The towns of the Val di Noto represent the apex and final flowering of Baroque art in Europe.
The exceptional quality of late Baroque art and architecture in the Val di Noto places it in a geographical and chronological homogeneity, just as its richness results from the earthquake in this area in 1693.
The eight towns in south-eastern Sicily that submitted this request are an example of urban planning in this area permanently at risk of earthquakes and eruptions from Etna.”
The municipalities included as urban centres for certain streets or monuments are eight:
Catania, Caltagirone, Militello Val di Catania, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa, Modica, Scicli.

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