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 façade used as a puppet theatre

The wall comes to life

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The chocolate of Modica

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The internal colours

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

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

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

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

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

An eagle-shaped city

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

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

A feast only for Scicli

A small room with a golden entrance

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

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The colours of the cathedral

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A majestic and luminous church

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The Burgos crucifix

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

A new site for a new city

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

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The two churches

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Wonderful quick decorations

Norman apses

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Some masterpieces

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A symbol for the town

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A triumph of colour

The interior and its masterpieces

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

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

A miniature city

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A talking palace

New roads for Catania

From International Gothic to present day

The city of museums

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Discovering the mother church

A city in colour

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

The disastrous earthquake

The theatre of taste

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

A museum to save a tradition

Prominent façade

Feasting in Palazzolo

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

A half-Baroque church

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Many owners, one palace

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A prominent church

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The Baroque town by the sea

Limestone, the colour of harmony

St. Sebastian, so much work!

One city, two sites

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

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

The Staircase of Angels

A hall for the feasts

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

Two illustrious patron saints

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

A colourful floor

Some prestigious works

A long reconstruction

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Between white and black

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Searching for colour

Feast days

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A new site for a new church

The Maiolica of the staircase

A square as the heart of the city

The church of Carmine

One city, three sites