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).

Norman apses

A prominent church

Wonderful quick decorations

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

A colourful floor

A hall for the feasts

From International Gothic to present day

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

One city, three sites

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

Some masterpieces

A new site for a new city

An eagle-shaped city

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A miniature city

Two illustrious patron saints

Modica, a city with ancient origins

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

Between white and black

Some prestigious works

A triumph of colour

The Baroque town by the sea

A feast only for Scicli

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The city of museums

The Maiolica of the staircase

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The church of Carmine

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

Searching for colour

A majestic and luminous church

The internal colours

A long reconstruction

The Staircase of Angels

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A square as the heart of the city

The wall comes to life

A small room with a golden entrance

Discovering the mother church

Many owners, one palace

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The Burgos crucifix

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

One city, two sites

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

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Feasting in Palazzolo

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A city in colour

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A new site for a new church

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A symbol for the town

The disastrous earthquake

A museum to save a tradition

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

A talking palace

Connections with other UNESCO sites

New roads for Catania

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

The theatre of taste

Feast days

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Prominent façade

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A half-Baroque church

The colours of the cathedral

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The chocolate of Modica

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

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The interior and its masterpieces

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

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

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The two churches

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town