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 theatre of taste

A city in colour

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Feast days

The Burgos crucifix

New roads for Catania

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

One city, three sites

One city, two sites

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

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

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

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

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A small room with a golden entrance

The interior and its masterpieces

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

A new site for a new city

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

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Discovering the mother church

Prominent façade

A majestic and luminous church

A feast only for Scicli

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The disastrous earthquake

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The two churches

A square as the heart of the city

Searching for colour

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The Maiolica of the staircase

A triumph of colour

Two illustrious patron saints

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

An eagle-shaped city

A new site for a new church

Wonderful quick decorations

Some masterpieces

A colourful floor

The chocolate of Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A miniature city

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

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

Many owners, one palace

From International Gothic to present day

The city of museums

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The internal colours

Some prestigious works

A prominent church

The church of Carmine

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

Norman apses

A talking palace

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The Baroque town by the sea

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A long reconstruction

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The Staircase of Angels

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

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The wall comes to life

Feasting in Palazzolo

Between white and black

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

A museum to save a tradition

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

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

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

A hall for the feasts

A half-Baroque church

A symbol for the town

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

The colours of the cathedral

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town