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 cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A symbol for the town

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The Maiolica of the staircase

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The colours of the cathedral

A new site for a new city

A majestic and luminous church

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

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

A prominent church

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

A half-Baroque church

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The theatre of taste

One city, two sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Between white and black

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A feast only for Scicli

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

The Burgos crucifix

Wonderful quick decorations

Some prestigious works

From International Gothic to present day

A small room with a golden entrance

A square as the heart of the city

Feasting in Palazzolo

The chocolate of Modica

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

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

Discovering the mother church

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

Feast days

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A miniature city

St. Sebastian, so much work!

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Modica, a city with ancient origins

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The internal colours

A colourful floor

A city in colour

A triumph of colour

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A hall for the feasts

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The Baroque town by the sea

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The wall comes to life

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The city of museums

A long reconstruction

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

A museum to save a tradition

The church of Carmine

Many owners, one palace

One city, three sites

The Staircase of Angels

A new site for a new church

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Prominent façade

Some masterpieces

Two illustrious patron saints

New roads for Catania

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A talking palace

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

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

Searching for colour

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The interior and its masterpieces

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The disastrous earthquake

Norman apses

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

An eagle-shaped city

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

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

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

The two churches

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

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

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

The façade used as a puppet theatre