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?