Benedictine Monastery - Museo della Fabbrica

Scientific Coordinator: prof.ssa Federica Santagati

The "Museo della Fabbrica" is an integral part of the Benedictine Monastery, a masterpiece of Sicilian Baroque that was founded by the Cassinese monks in 1558 and rebuilt by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini in 1739, after two natural disasters Catania was hit by quite severely in the seventeenth century: the 1669 eruption and the 1693 earthquake.

The idea comes from the architect Giancarlo De Carlo in close liaison with our own technical team division. They both created a museum about the historical and architectonic development of the monastery and its relationship with the town. The primary aim was to preserve, restore, enhance and develop educational and research activities.

It is worth mentioning an almost complete lack of foundations. Its walls and pillars are made of lava stone with no base in between and the shape of the structure is rather varied. By exploiting the elements of the lava stone, Vaccarini realised a web structure that makes the cellar particularly charming.

The restoration works brought back the original foundations of this building: the "Museo della Fabbrica" tells its own story, while preserving the memory of its inventive techniques and that of the building materials.

Information and Admission

Untile september 30, every day 9 am-5pm. Closed on monday. / tel. +39 095 7102767 - 334 9242464 / info@officineculturali.net /