Noto

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The Infiorata, or Saluto alla Primavera (Greeting to Spring), is one of the most important feasts for Noto and its citizens.
L'infiorata It is a unique opportunity to come together and celebrate. Every year, on the third Sunday of May, since 1979 Via Corrado Nicolaci has been covered in wonderful and colourful pictures of flowers.
On the first Infiorata, the master florists of Genzano, from the province of Rome, were called to Noto to start a long and spectacular tradition, today more alive than ever.
The event is so popular with the public thanks to the many events offered such as exhibitions, rallies and costume parades.
Now let’s find out how the feast is organised today. To create the pictures, every year the Municipality of Noto organises a public competition and asks artists to present and develop a chosen theme.
Only the best sketches are selected.
At this point, having been selected, the experts are asked to complete their paintings when the time is right. 6 metres wide and 4 metres tall, the works cover the whole street, which is 122 metres long.
The end result is a beautiful floral carpet, made of petals from daisies, carnations, gerberas, roses and wildflowers of various sizes and colours.
Though the theme changes year after year, the Infiorata is always opened by the city’s coat of arms made by the Istituto d’arte di Noto (Noto Art Institute).

A majestic and luminous church

One city, two sites

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The internal colours

A small room with a golden entrance

The senses tell the Mother Church of San Nicolò and of the Santissimo Salvatore

The Baroque town by the sea

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The interior and its masterpieces

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

From International Gothic to present day

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The colours of the cathedral

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

An eagle-shaped city

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The senses tell the story of the staircase of Santa Maria del Monte

A museum to save a tradition

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The Burgos crucifix

The senses tell the story of the Badia di Sant’Agata

Prominent façade

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Freedom of worship and the role of the Catholic Church in the diffusion of Baroque

Many owners, one palace

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell the Benedictine Monastery and San NicoIò l’Arena

The senses tell the story of the church of Santa Maria del Carmelo

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista

Some masterpieces

Between white and black

Feast days

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The two churches

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Giuliano ai Crociferi

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

New roads for Catania

The theatre of taste

The church of Carmine

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Norman apses

A new site for a new church

A hall for the feasts

A prominent church

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Discovering the mother church

The city of museums

The Staircase of Angels

Church of San Giuliano (St. Julian) on Via dei Crociferi: reconstruction

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The disastrous earthquake

Some prestigious works

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A long reconstruction

A half-Baroque church

Wonderful quick decorations

Searching for colour

Feasting in Palazzolo

A city in colour

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A feast only for Scicli

A square as the heart of the city

From the contrast of the exterior to the internal jubilation of colours

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The role of the religious orders in rebuilding the Val di Noto

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Two illustrious patron saints

A triumph of colour

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

One city, three sites

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giovanni Battista

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A colourful floor

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A miniature city

A new site for a new city

The chocolate of Modica

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

A talking palace

A symbol for the town

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The wall comes to life

The Maiolica of the staircase

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata