Seminario dei Chierici

Seminario dei Chierici

The foundation date of the first Seminario dei Chierici was 18 April 1572; the site assigned for the construction was the old Platea Magna, which today corresponds to Piazza Duomo. Following the 1693 earthquake it was rebuilt in part on the original walls and in part on an area occupied by the old Bishopric. The current structure, begun by Alonzo di Benedetto following the earthquake and continuted by Francesco Battaglia (1720), has undergone various modifications. The part of the building that projects on the small Alonzo di Benedetto square encompasses the Sette Canali fountain.

Seminario dei Chierici 2

Charles V Gate

In the past, too, the space occupied by the eighteenth-century  Piazza Duomo constituted the heart of the city of Catania’s religious and political life. Today the archaeological evidence lies for ever under the Baroque buildings and monuments of the sixteenth and seventeenth century city and has been swallowed up entirely by noble palaces and churches. Despite this some important fragments of the past are still visible in this piazza, which took the brunt of the earthquake.
The Charles V Gate is located in a most atmospheric urban setting- the middle of the “Pescheria”, the picturesque daily fish and fruit market; from Piazza Alonzo di Benedetto (behind the Fontana dell Amenano) the tunnel where the guard corps was housed is reached through a large archway. From here (to the right) is the Charles V Gate, which leads into the small Piazza Pardo which houses an overspill of stalls from the market.An epigraph over the gate recalls that it was part of a programme of reinforcing of defences ordered by Viceroy Vega in 1553 as protection against pirates and enemies.

Fountain of The Sette Canali

Again in Piazza Alonzo di Benedetto it is possible to see an extremely old fountain that survived the destruction of the earthquake, the Fontana dei Sette Canali ( Seven Canals). Which uses the water of the Amenano river.
Today it sits in a large open arch in the side of Palazzo dei Chierici ( in front of the Town Hall) and is at a lower ground level because it predates the earthquake. An inscription gives the date of its construction as 1612.
Apart from Porta Uzeda ( a gate opened in 1695 during the scenic reconstruction of Piazza Duomo), some tracts of the sixteenth-century walls can be seen.

Fonte Lanaria

Along the walls, to be precise in the part under the archbishopric, there is another fountain with strong symbolic significance, the Fonte Lanaria or Fonte di Sant’Agata. The first name derives from the fact that the fountain was to be found on Via Lanaria ( today dedicated to Cardinal Dusmet ), which was named after the governor Francesco Lanaria, Duke of Carpignano. The dedication to Saint Agatha, however, is linked to a tradition according to which this fountain marks the point from where the patron’s relics left when they were taken to Byzantium on General Giorgio Maniace’s orders. Today the fountain is the object of pilgrimages during Saint Agatha’s feast.
On 4 February, the day preceding the anniversary of Saint Agatha’s martyrdom, the simulacrum of the saint is taken along the route of the old walls; among the lines of the festive crowd the so called “Giro esterno”, the external circuit of the relics held in the precious caskets in the large silver carriage.
The carriage goes through the Porta Uzeda and enters Via Dusmet where, at the junction with Via Porticello, in front of the icon of the Madonna della Lettera, the Archibishop offers a candle to the Patron.
        

 


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