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 square as the heart of the city

The church of Carmine

The Maiolica of the staircase

A new site for a new city

The theatre of taste

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The interior and its masterpieces

The disastrous earthquake

Discovering the mother church

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

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

A hall for the feasts

A feast only for Scicli

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A long reconstruction

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

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

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

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A talking palace

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The internal colours

One city, two sites

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A new site for a new church

A prominent church

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Feasting in Palazzolo

One city, three sites

A miniature city

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Limestone, the colour of harmony

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

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Some prestigious works

An eagle-shaped city

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

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

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

A museum to save a tradition

Norman apses

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Feast days

A triumph of colour

A city in colour

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Prominent façade

The Burgos crucifix

A majestic and luminous church

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

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

Searching for colour

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The Staircase of Angels

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

Between white and black

Wonderful quick decorations

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Many owners, one palace

The Baroque town by the sea

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Some masterpieces

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

From International Gothic to present day

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A colourful floor

The wall comes to life

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The city of museums

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

New roads for Catania

The colours of the cathedral

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A symbol for the town

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Two illustrious patron saints

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

A half-Baroque church

A small room with a golden entrance

The chocolate of Modica

The two churches

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata