Giovanni Battista Landolina, "

Marchese A marquess (; ) is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German-language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or widow) ...

di S. Alfano", was a Sicilian landowner and

intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

(mathematician) instrumental in having the city of

Noto Noto (; ) is a city and in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy. It is southwest of the city of Syracuse at the foot of the Iblean Mountains. It lends its name to the surrounding area Val di Noto. In 2002 Noto and its church were decl ...

removed from its former site on

Mount Alveria Mount Alveria is a mountain located in the Province of Siracusa, south-eastern Sicily, Italy. History This mountainside has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The Elymians lived there before the 10th century B.C. They were followed by the ...

and rebuilt in a more level location following the earthquake in 1693 centred on the

Val di Noto Val di Noto () is a historical and geographical area encompassing the south-eastern third of Sicily; it is dominated by the limestone Hyblaean plateau. Historically, it was one of the three valli of Sicily. History The oldest recorded settlemen ...

. He is commemorated by a piazza in the city named in his honour. Ultimate responsibility for the re-building of Sicily at this time was however in the hands of the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

, Duke of Camastra; but Landolina successfully argued his case for the rebuilding to be some 10 km. from the former site. He is credited with having designed the city with the help of three local

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s. It is based on three parallel streets, interconnected by a series of narrower streets at

right angle In geometry and trigonometry, a right angle is an angle of exactly 90 Degree (angle), degrees or radians corresponding to a quarter turn (geometry), turn. If a Line (mathematics)#Ray, ray is placed so that its endpoint is on a line and the ad ...

s, thus producing a

grid Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to: Space partitioning * Regular grid, a tessellation of space with translational symmetry, typically formed from parallelograms or higher-dimensional analogs ** Grid graph, a graph structure with nodes connec ...

pattern, providing

vista Vista may refer to: Software *Windows Vista, the line of Microsoft Windows client operating systems released in 2006 and 2007 * VistA, (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) a medical records system of the United States ...

s to the three

piazza A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rela ...

s, each with their own church, the largest having a

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

. Landolina's town planning

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

was based on the Baroque system, in which the town was divided according to social rank and position, the

aristocracy Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense Economy, economic, Politics, political, and soc ...

were given the highest sites, the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

the town centre, to reflect their position at the centre of one's life, and the poor the

periphery Periphery or peripheral may refer to: Music *Periphery (band), American progressive metal band * ''Periphery'' (album), released in 2010 by Periphery *"Periphery", a song from Fiona Apple's album '' The Idler Wheel...'' Gaming and entertainme ...

of the town where no one else wanted to live. Later the architects

Giovanni Battista Vaccarini Giovanni Battista Vaccarini (3 February 1702 – 11 March 1768) was a Sicilian architect, notable for his work in the Sicilian Baroque style in his homeland during the period of massive rebuilding following the earthquake of 1693. Many of his p ...

, and

Rosario Gagliardi Rosario Gagliardi (1698–1762) was an Italian architect born in Syracuse. He was one of the leading architects working in the Sicilian Baroque. Despite never leaving Sicily, his work showed great understanding of the style, but was a progression ...

designed many buildings in the city.

Palazzo Landolina

Landolina rule was broken in 1730 when his son Francesco Landolina, Marchese di S. Alfano, built his new house the "Palazzo Landolina", in the town centre next to the new cathedral. Today, Noto is a great

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

attraction owing to the many examples of

Sicilian Baroque Sicilian Baroque is the distinctive form of Baroque architecture which evolved on the island of Sicily, off the southern coast of Italy, in the , when it was part of the Spanish Empire. The style is recognisable not only by its typical Baroque c ...

built during Landolina's time as town planner.

References

{{Reflist Landolina, Giovanni Battista People from Noto