From Treatises to Late Baroque Architecture in Val di Noto: Survey and Geometric Analysis of Sinusoidal Façades.

Val di Noto is an area geographically corresponding to southeastern Sicily and it is arranged as an integrated context. Within the Baroque in Sicily, it is necessary to remember the earthquake of 1693 which ravaged the area across, destroying lots of populated centers. After the earthquake, a lot of urban centers were rebuilt transforming the area around Val di Noto into a big building site. The research develops a critical methodological investigation of the works of the period concerning church architecture with sinusoidal facades. The instrumental survey is particularly suitable to draw comparisons with the treatises known at the time. The present study refers to the ichnographies of Mazza collection by Rosario Gagliardi, prominent figure of the Sicilian Baroque. The adopted methodology highlighted analogies and formal geometric differences between the model represented by Gagliardi’s ichnographies and the churches previously identified. The chapter provides a useful instrument for the research of a technical, scientific and geometric point of view.