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Our tour starts from the heart of Ragusa,
from the large square planned by the architects La Padula
and Fichera; it was inaugurated in 1937 and then named
Piazza Impero. From this square, now called Piazza della Libertà we enter our itinerary. The square is
linked to Via
Roma, (the ancient
meeting place and city parlour which is now one
of the modern commercial centres of the town) through one
of the three bridges which overlooks the Santa Domenica
valley, popularly called Ponte Nuovo. The central arcade of the bridge is 40
metres high. Turning left we get into Via Natalelli, here
from the pavement we can enjoy a view of the valley, and
of the caves in its side parts; the caves are a result of
eighteenth and nineteenth century excavations to extract
the tender limestone. The so called "dead stone"
extracted from this valley was used to build the ancient bridge and the center of Ragusa. Finally we reach the archaeological museum inaugurated at the end of 1960 which
contains all the findings of the excavations of the well
known archaeologist Paolo Orsi. The Museum is made up of
five sections. In the first one there are findings from
the prehistoric period and materials dating back to the
Bronze Age, among which we can see flints extracted from
the Hyblaean mountains according to the most widespread
activity in ancient times. In the second one, as well as
in the fifth one, we can admire findings from the
archaeological area of Kamarina where two mosaics of the
roman age have been restored. In the other sections we
may find a kiln for ceramics in the Scornavacche village,
ceramics, the reconstruction of tombs and funerary
equipment.
Out of the museum, a few feet away on the left,
going up three small flight of steps we are again in Via Roma. We walk as far as Corso Italia and on our right we find the Cathedral of "S.
Giovanni" the
patron saint of the town. It is a masterpiece of baroque
art, built after the earthquake during the eighteenth
century, the construction of this church lasted fifty
years under the direction of two master builders Rosario
Boscarino and Mario Spata. The designer of the project is
still unknown; it was one of the first works to be put up
in the new town; the church was acknowledged as mother
church in 1895, and as cathedral in 1950. According to a
legend the nice quadrangular belfry grows one millimetre
higher each year, while, owing to one of the seven
secrets of Ibla, and to the law of compensation, the
belfry of the Immacolata church gets one millimetre
shorter. The two orders façade has three portals and six
hardy columns decorated with Corinthian capitals. The
central portal reproduces the statues of San Giovanni
Evangelista and San Giovanni Battista. In the middle we
find the statue of the Immaculate Conception instead of
the statue of the patron saint to honour the memory of
the old country church which once was in this place.
Inside the church we may breathe the suggestive
atmosphere of the light which filters through the panes
of the dome. Looking upwards, the frescoes on the
pendentive of the dome, sustained by eight pillars, catch
your eye. The work of Salvatore Cascone from Ragusa
portrays the four evangelists while two big bronze angels
support the enormous chandeliers. The latin cross
interior is divided into three naves; columns, vaults,
arcades and numerous chapels guarding works of art draw
our attention. At the end of the central nave the
imposing organ Serassi Tamburini stands out with its
monumental pipes; it is an excellent craft which has been
giving for centuries pleasant and mellow sounds. In the
right nave we find the first chapel called the Baptistery
Chapel with frescoes by Cascone depicting scenes from the
Old and the New Testament.
A christening font
of Carmelo Cappello, the great Hyblaean sculptor of the
contemporary school recently dead, has a great artistic
value.
Before the gardens
of the Cathedral, we may see the church of the Collegio di Maria
Addolorata, which
with its neo-classic façade and its echoes of baroque
art, is in perfect harmony with the Cathedral. Going down
the stairs, we head towards Via Mariannina Coffa on the
right side of the square, and then we move to Ponte Vecchio (Old
Bridge) a
pedestrian precinct, recently restored. The Bridge is
named after the capuchin friar, who more than anyone else
helped in building it in 1825. It is said that Padre
Scopetta changed the original project so that the route
of the bridge made a detour to link it to the Capuchin
Square where there is the church with the same name.
From here, turning
left, we head towards the bridge "Giovanni
XXIII", the
latest one which was inaugurated in 1964. At the corner
with
Corso Vittorio Veneto, in a very favourable position
there is Palazzo
Zacco, a noble
mansion. The Zacco family in the nineteenth century,
purchased it from the Baron Melfi di SantAgostino.
On the corner of the mansion some stone putti sustain the
coat of arms. The baroque corbels which reproduce two
faces, a charming one and a grotesque one sustain the
balcony. The stone masques represent musicians and sirens,
among them the masque with a sarcastic smile seems to
make fun of the observers.
Further on, this
road crosses Corso Italia, an important road full of shops; at
the street number 35, we may stop and watch Palazzo Bertini. It shows three unmistakable stone
masks which decorate the arches of the little balconies.
One of the possible interpretations of these expressions
of baroque art is that the chubby cheeks of the right
stone mask represent richness, while the comical and
scanty expression
of the left mask is the symbol of poverty. In the middle,
the nobleman stands out with its glacial and aristocratic
look.
Going down the
Corso, we achieve our itinerary at the beginning of Via XXIV Maggio. Here in 1838 a votive aedicule (fiuredda) was built to thank the Madonna del
Rosario for the
end of the cholera epidemic which caused so many victims
among the population.
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