Il mondo della costruzione a Noto nell'età moderna

Studying ancient Noto based on the few extant fragmentsof buildings in ruins is a challenging task. Theseare the remains of the violent earthquake that struckthe south-eastern Sicily in 1693 and wiped the entiretown away. If one adds the frequent documentary gapsand scarcity of graphic representations to this catastrophicevent, the goal could seem an almost impossiblemission. Yet, against all expectations, this “unusual” researchhas yielded data that allow us to capture a glimpseof the world of construction in the Modern Agethrough the study of the most important constructionyards of civil and religious architectural works in thetown. The research carried out on the fortifications that were skillfully built into the rock of Mount Alveriaand bear witness to the feared Ottoman raids of thepast, on the construction yards of the Mother churchand of the numerous religious complexes and on theconstruction of the Senate Palace and major publicworks reveals the mystery of a past that has been unraveledthanks to the interpretation of documents, mostlyunpublished, and the reading of handwrittensources supplemented by the comparison with theruins. This effort has brought to light an architecturalproduction of the highest quality, suggesting that Notowas the perfect place to learn the arts and secrets ofstone masonry.