The Baroque Architecture of Sicily
Maria Giuffrè
Photographs by Melo Minnella
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| '… made to look irresistibly attractive by the superb photography of Melo Minnella … it should at the very least quicken new interest in the style and the place, while at the same time deepening the understanding of both among existing aficionados' | | – The World of Interiors |
Sicilian Baroque architecture was open to the whole world of European Baroque and yet stubbornly protective of its own unique identity.
Sicilian Baroque was once described by Anthony Blunt as the style ‘in which the energy and imagination of the south attained full and mature expression’. This volume superbly affirms that this era in the island’s history was a crucial phase in Western civilization.
Through analysis and above all by revelatory photography it seeks to define what makes the Baroque of Sicily distinctive:
• How does it differ from the Baroque not only of other countries but also from that of other Italian regions?
• How was it possible to impose that particular character upon churches and palaces, sculpture and painting?
• What was the role of ‘capital’ cities such as Palermo and Catania, and smaller towns like Noto?
• To what extent did it absorb styles from abroad, both through travel and through pictures and treatises?
• How decisive was that Sicilian speciality, the earthquake, as a factor in change and renewal?
Maria Giuffré is a professor at the School of Architecture, Palermo University. Melo Minnella has photographed Sicily’s artistic and cultural heritage for many years, and has published several books on the subject.
Also of interest:
The Triumph of the Baroque: Architecture in Europe 1600-1750
Bernini: Genius of the Baroque
Italian Architecture: From Michelangelo to Borromini
The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance |
|  |  | | | | ISBN 0500342393 | | ISBN-13 978-0500342398 | | | | 32.5 x 27.0 cm | | Hardback | | 288pp | | 272 illustrations, 272 in colour | | First published 2007 | | | | £48.00 | | | |  | | | | 
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