Artistic and religious heritage

Paintings, manuscripts, sacred silverware, mosaics and architecture, photographed mainly in Sicily and Campania in museums, churches and religious festivals.

Every image follows the same workflow: capture as frontal as possible, RAW development with optical and perspective correction, white balance on neutral references, a hardware-calibrated monitor and colour management with ICC profiles, to render the work faithfully, without interpretation.

A selection of personal work, looking towards the professional digitisation of cultural heritage. These are photographs taken on site, during visits, exhibitions and celebrations, with available light and without reproduction equipment: they show the eye and the development method, not a capture campaign under controlled conditions. Authors, dates and locations are given in each section.

Paintings

  • Antonello da Messina, Virgin Annunciate, c. 1475-1476, oil on panel. Palermo, Galleria Regionale di Palazzo Abatellis. Full work and two details.
  • Caravaggio, Burial of Saint Lucy, 1608, oil on canvas, 408 × 300 cm. Syracuse, Basilica of Santa Lucia al Sepolcro. Full work, straightened from an oblique shot, and detail.
  • Circle of Caravaggio, The Taking of Christ, c. 1602, oil on canvas laid on panel, 135 × 168 cm. Florence, Uffizi Galleries. Shown in the exhibition Caravaggio. La verità della luce, Catania 2024.
  • Caravaggio (attributed), Saint Sebastian, oil on canvas. Private collection. Shown in the same exhibition.
  • Alessandro Vasta, Glorification of Saint Emidius with a view of Catania, 18th century, oil on canvas. Catania, Diocesan Museum. Detail with Saint Agatha, holding the tablet with the initials M.S.S.H.D.P.L., and Saint Emidius.
Antonello da Messina, Virgin Annunciate, c. 1475-1476, oil on panel. Palermo, Galleria Regionale di Palazzo Abatellis.Antonello da Messina, Virgin Annunciate (c. 1475-1476), detail of the face. Palermo, Galleria Regionale di Palazzo Abatellis.Antonello da Messina, Virgin Annunciate (c. 1475-1476), detail of the hands and lectern. Palermo, Galleria Regionale di Palazzo Abatellis.Caravaggio, Burial of Saint Lucy, 1608, oil on canvas, 408 x 300 cm. Syracuse, Basilica of Santa Lucia al Sepolcro.Caravaggio, Burial of Saint Lucy (1608), detail of the saint's body. Syracuse, Santa Lucia al Sepolcro.Circle of Caravaggio, The Taking of Christ, c. 1602. Florence, Uffizi Galleries. Exhibition in Catania, 2024.Caravaggio (attributed), Saint Sebastian, private collection. Exhibition Caravaggio. La verità della luce, Catania 2024.Alessandro Vasta, Glorification of Saint Emidius (18th century), detail with Saint Agatha and Saint Emidius. Catania, Diocesan Museum.

In depth: Antonello da Messina, Virgin Annunciate (c. 1476)

Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo

Antonello paints the Annunciation by taking the Annunciation away: no angel, only a girl, a blue mantle, a lectern. The empty space where Gabriel should stand is where the viewer stands.

The light is that of a photographic studio: high on the left, at about 45°, consistent on face, hands and lectern. The shadow of the nose falls without covering the mouth; the one under the chin separates the face from the neck. A pattern the manuals call "Rembrandt lighting", 130 years before Rembrandt.

Up close the cracks emerge, the holes in the wood, the pigment of the mantle crumbling: the matter of the work, beyond the image.

Manuscripts and sacred silverware

Works linked to the cult of Saint Agatha, photographed in Catania in 2026, the 900th anniversary of the return of the relics from Constantinople.

  • Manuscript with the Epistle of Maurice, bishop of Catania, on the translation of Saint Agatha's relics (1126); on the left, the index of the offices, added later.
  • Giovanni di Bartolo, Reliquary bust of Saint Agatha, 1373-1376. Catania, Cathedral. Photographed after the 2026 restoration, during the display of 20-22 July, without the ex-votos.
  • Reliquary casket of Saint Agatha, embossed and chased silver, 15th-16th century. Catania, Cathedral.
  • Reliquaries of Saint Agatha on the altar of her chapel: at the ends the legs with the feet, then the femurs and the arms; in the centre the reliquary of the veil. Catania, Cathedral, February 2026.
Manuscript with Bishop Maurice's Epistle on the translation of Saint Agatha's relics (1126). Catania, 2026.Giovanni di Bartolo, reliquary bust of Saint Agatha, 1373-1376, after the 2026 restoration. Catania, Cathedral.Reliquary casket of Saint Agatha, embossed and chased silver, 15th-16th century. Catania, Cathedral.Reliquaries of Saint Agatha (legs, femurs, arms and veil) on the altar of her chapel. Catania, Cathedral.

Reliefs, marbles and mosaics

  • The Last Supper, signed high relief. Taormina, Cathedral of San Nicolò, minor basilica since 1980.
  • Panel in mixed marbles with putti and birds carved on a black marble ground. Palermo, Chiesa del Gesù (Casa Professa).
  • Byzantine mosaics of the Martorana (Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio), 1143-1151. Palermo. In the dome, Christ enthroned with four archangels; on the arches, the Nativity and the Dormition of the Virgin.
  • Mosaic of the Room of the Small Hunt, early 4th century AD, with the scene of the sacrifice to Diana. Piazza Armerina, Villa Romana del Casale. The gaps in the floor are left as they are.
Palermo, the Martorana, Byzantine mosaics of 1143-1151: Christ enthroned with archangels, Nativity and Dormition.The Last Supper, signed high relief. Taormina, Cathedral of San Nicolò (minor basilica).Panel in mixed marbles with putti and birds carved in relief on a black marble ground. Palermo, Chiesa del Gesù (Casa Professa).Villa Romana del Casale, mosaic of the Small Hunt (early 4th century AD), scene of the sacrifice to Diana.

Ceilings and vaults

Painted and carved surfaces shot from below, with the perspective corrected to restore their geometry.

  • Carved and gilded coffered wooden ceiling, commissioned in 1580 by the abbess Beatrice Carafa, with canvases by Teodoro d'Errico. Naples, San Gregorio Armeno.
  • Giovanni Tuccari, vault with the Stories of Saint Benedict, 1726-1729. Catania, Church of San Benedetto.
  • Nave vault with frescoes by Filippo Tancredi (1693, redone in 1950-1954 after the 1943 bombings) and gilded stuccoes by Paolo Corso to a design by Giacomo Amato. Palermo, San Giuseppe dei Teatini.
  • Giovanni Lanfranco, Paradise, 1641-1643, dome of the Chapel of the Treasure of Saint Januarius. Naples, Cathedral.
  • Dome and vaults of the Church of the Gesù Nuovo, Naples.
  • Frescoed vault of the Certosa di San Martino, Naples.
Naples, San Gregorio Armeno, gilded wooden coffered ceiling (from 1580) with canvases by Teodoro d'Errico.Catania, Church of San Benedetto, vault frescoed by Giovanni Tuccari (1726-1729) with the Stories of Saint Benedict and his Triumph.Palermo, San Giuseppe dei Teatini, vault with frescoes by Filippo Tancredi (1693) and gilded stuccoes by Paolo Corso.Naples, Cathedral, Chapel of the Treasure of Saint Januarius: dome with Giovanni Lanfranco's Paradise (1641-1643) and pendentives by Domenichino.Naples, Church of the Gesù Nuovo, dome and frescoed vaults seen from below.Naples, Certosa di San Martino, frescoed vault and wooden choir stalls.

Architecture

  • Interior of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta with its painted wooden ceiling, Messina.
  • Palazzo degli Elefanti, Catania City Hall.
  • Late Baroque portal of Palazzo San Demetrio, Via Etnea, Catania. Rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake, the palace was reassembled with the same stones after the 1944 bombings.
  • Interior of Matthias Church (Church of Our Lady of the Assumption), with the painted decoration of the neo-Gothic restoration directed by Frigyes Schulek (1874-1896). Budapest.
Messina, Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, interior with the painted wooden ceiling and the columns of the nave.Catania, Palazzo San Demetrio on Via Etnea, late Baroque portal with putti, telamones and coat of arms.Catania, Palazzo degli Elefanti, City Hall, 18th-century façade on Piazza Duomo, night view.Budapest, Matthias Church, painted neo-Gothic interior (restoration by Frigyes Schulek, 1874-1896).