Description
The Monastery of the Santissima Trinità is a large 18th-century building on Via Vittorio Emanuele II, in the center of Catania. It was a cloistered convent for nuns; today it houses a high school and a Carabinieri barracks, but its church, built between 1746 and 1751, is the reason it is worth stopping.
Since 2002 the church has been part of the late Baroque towns of the Val di Noto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The church's facade is attributed to Francesco Battaglia: three-part, with a single portal and a concave central section, preceded by a flight of lava-stone steps. On the doorway two figures turn toward the Eye of God in the center; higher up, three large windows and two square turrets capped by little domes.
Inside, the elliptical plan looks to Borromini's San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, and at the far end the rectangular presbytery blends curved lines with straight ones. Above the entrance is a gilded choir loft, elegant and finely decorated.
The canvases are the best part: on the right-hand altars Sozzi's Baptism of Jesus and, above the second altar, the Madonna appearing to Saint John the Evangelist on Patmos, by Sebastiano Conca, from 1756. On the left, Sozzi again, with a Crucifixion and the Trinity appearing to Saint Benedict.
The side entrance, on Via Quartarone, hides a surprise too: closed after the street was lowered in 1861, it has become a niche with an altar dedicated to the Crucifix and remarkable ceramic statues from the late 18th century.
The monastery has a dramatic history. In the second half of the 17th century the convent was home to 34 cloistered nuns, and the earthquake of 1693 killed 28 of them, more than four in five. Yet, being right in the center, it was one of only six religious buildings chosen for rebuilding: seven other monastic institutions were abandoned.
The convent had already survived once before: in 1669 the lava from Etna surrounded it twice, on March 8 from the south and on April 30 from the north, without touching it. The reconstruction passed through the hands of Giovanni Battista Vaccarini, then of Francesco Battaglia.
The nuns lived behind high walls, in strict seclusion, broken only on September 14 for the feast of the Holy Nail. To support themselves they rented out homes and shops built into the building itself.
In 1866 the State closed the monastery, which became a girls' boarding school and then, from 1923, a science high school.
Don't miss
• Battaglia's concave facade.
• The elliptical plan.
• The canvases by Sebastiano Conca and Sozzi.
Did you know?
• The church's portal was lowered in 1861, when the street was leveled.
• The monastery was founded in 1349 farther east, where the University Palace stands today.
Since 2002 the church has been part of the late Baroque towns of the Val di Noto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The church's facade is attributed to Francesco Battaglia: three-part, with a single portal and a concave central section, preceded by a flight of lava-stone steps. On the doorway two figures turn toward the Eye of God in the center; higher up, three large windows and two square turrets capped by little domes.
Inside, the elliptical plan looks to Borromini's San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, and at the far end the rectangular presbytery blends curved lines with straight ones. Above the entrance is a gilded choir loft, elegant and finely decorated.
The canvases are the best part: on the right-hand altars Sozzi's Baptism of Jesus and, above the second altar, the Madonna appearing to Saint John the Evangelist on Patmos, by Sebastiano Conca, from 1756. On the left, Sozzi again, with a Crucifixion and the Trinity appearing to Saint Benedict.
The side entrance, on Via Quartarone, hides a surprise too: closed after the street was lowered in 1861, it has become a niche with an altar dedicated to the Crucifix and remarkable ceramic statues from the late 18th century.
The monastery has a dramatic history. In the second half of the 17th century the convent was home to 34 cloistered nuns, and the earthquake of 1693 killed 28 of them, more than four in five. Yet, being right in the center, it was one of only six religious buildings chosen for rebuilding: seven other monastic institutions were abandoned.
The convent had already survived once before: in 1669 the lava from Etna surrounded it twice, on March 8 from the south and on April 30 from the north, without touching it. The reconstruction passed through the hands of Giovanni Battista Vaccarini, then of Francesco Battaglia.
The nuns lived behind high walls, in strict seclusion, broken only on September 14 for the feast of the Holy Nail. To support themselves they rented out homes and shops built into the building itself.
In 1866 the State closed the monastery, which became a girls' boarding school and then, from 1923, a science high school.
Don't miss
• Battaglia's concave facade.
• The elliptical plan.
• The canvases by Sebastiano Conca and Sozzi.
Did you know?
• The church's portal was lowered in 1861, when the street was leveled.
• The monastery was founded in 1349 farther east, where the University Palace stands today.