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).

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

From International Gothic to present day

One city, two sites

A small room with a golden entrance

Discovering the mother church

Searching for colour

A museum to save a tradition

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The church of Carmine

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

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The internal colours

A majestic and luminous church

Prominent façade

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Norman apses

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

Between white and black

A Nobel Prize in Modica

One city, three sites

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Some prestigious works

A talking palace

A feast only for Scicli

A long reconstruction

A colourful floor

A hall for the feasts

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The Staircase of Angels

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The wall comes to life

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Feasting in Palazzolo

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The disastrous earthquake

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

St. Sebastian, so much work!

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A city in colour

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A square as the heart of the city

The façade used as a puppet theatre

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

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

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

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Many owners, one palace

A half-Baroque church

The interior and its masterpieces

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

The theatre of taste

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The Baroque town by the sea

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

A miniature city

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A prominent church

The colours of the cathedral

Some masterpieces

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A triumph of colour

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

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

The two churches

The city of museums

The Maiolica of the staircase

The chocolate of Modica

An eagle-shaped city

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Feast days

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

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

New roads for Catania

A new site for a new city

A new site for a new church

The Burgos crucifix

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Wonderful quick decorations

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Two illustrious patron saints

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A symbol for the town

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