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Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto (South-Eastern Sicily)

Italy
Date of Inscription: 2002
Criteria: (i)(ii)(iv)(v)
Core zone: 112.790001 ha
Buffer zone: 305.799988 ha
Provinces of Catania, Ragusa, and Syracuse, Sicily
N36 53 35.5 E15 04 08.1
Ref: 1024rev

Brief Description

The eight towns in south-eastern Sicily: Caltagirone, Militello Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo, Ragusa and Scicli, were all rebuilt after 1693 on or beside towns existing at the time of the earthquake which took place in that year. They represent a considerable collective undertaking, successfully carried out at a high level of architectural and artistic achievement. Keeping within the late Baroque style of the day, they also depict distinctive innovations in town planning and urban building.

Justification for Inscription

Criterion i This group of towns in south-eastern Sicily provides outstanding testimony to the exuberant genius of late Baroque art and architecture. Criterion ii The towns of the Val di Noto represent the culmination and final flowering of Baroque art in Europe. Criterion iv The exceptional quality of the late Baroque art and architecture in the Val di Noto lies in its geographical and chronological homogeneity, as well as its quantity, the result of the 1693 earthquake in this region. Criterion v The eight towns of south-eastern Sicily that make up this nomination, which are characteristic of the settlement pattern and urban form of this region, are permanently at risk from earthquakes and eruptions of Mount Etna.

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