Noto

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

hearing
The voices of the Infiorata festival

If we lived in Palazzo Nicolaci and were in one of the rooms overlooking Via Corrado Nicolaci, on the third Sunday in May we would hear voices in the street.
On this day, the Saluto alla Primavera (Greeting to Spring) is celebrated, also known as the Infiorata, which attracts many people to Noto.
Every year, depending on the theme, sixteen pictures are created with petals and the street is filled with voices.
You would hear comments about the pictures, the clicking of cameras, children running up and down the street and people greeting one another for the occasion.

sight
The journey of the Sun

The hall of feasts, or yellow room, hosted banquets and social events to which all the nobles of the surrounding area were invited.
Our attention is drawn to the room’s ceiling fresco, where Apollo is depicted driving the chariot of the Sun.
In this representation the sun takes the same exact path that it takes over the city of Noto.
No detail was left to chance! The Sun, the light, that which illuminates and gives life was painted as faithfully as in reality.

A miniature city

An eagle-shaped city

A small room with a golden entrance

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Connections with other UNESCO sites

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The disastrous earthquake

Prominent façade

The chocolate of Modica

A long reconstruction

Some masterpieces

Wonderful quick decorations

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

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Feast days

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

A prominent church

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The theatre of taste

A symbol for the town

Discovering the mother church

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

A square as the heart of the city

A colourful floor

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A new site for a new church

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Modica, a city with ancient origins

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

Norman apses

From International Gothic to present day

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

Many owners, one palace

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

A museum to save a tradition

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The internal colours

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

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

A triumph of colour

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

The city of museums

A talking palace

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

One city, two sites

The interior and its masterpieces

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Two illustrious patron saints

The church of Carmine

The colours of the cathedral

The Burgos crucifix

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

New roads for Catania

A city in colour

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The Maiolica of the staircase

A hall for the feasts

The Baroque town by the sea

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

A half-Baroque church

The Staircase of Angels

The façade used as a puppet theatre

One city, three sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The two churches

A new site for a new city

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

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

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

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Feasting in Palazzolo

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

A majestic and luminous church

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

Some prestigious works

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The wall comes to life

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Between white and black

A feast only for Scicli

Searching for colour

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci