Chiesa di San Domenico

The Chiesa di San Domenico stands at the western end of the Corso, its magnificent convex Baroque facade by Rosario Gagliardi filling the view down the street. Built between 1703 and 1727, it is considered one of Gagliardi's masterworks: the sweeping curved facade with its two tiers of columns, the exuberant ornamentation, the strong interplay of light and shadow in the stonework.

The adjacent Dominican convent is now a museum housing local archaeological finds. The church interior, regularly open for worship, has an 18th-century wooden choir and some good carved stone altars. The facade is best seen in morning light.

things to do sight
A story
San Domenico's convex facade was designed by Rosario Gagliardi, the architect responsible for much of Noto's most ambitious Baroque work. Gagliardi's signature was the curved, dynamic facade that seems to push outward toward the viewer — a technique he used here to maximum theatrical effect. He never left Sicily, learned almost entirely from books and engravings, and yet produced buildings that rank among the finest Baroque architecture in Europe.