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).

Feasting in Palazzolo

A symbol for the town

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

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

A small room with a golden entrance

The two churches

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A majestic and luminous church

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

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

The chocolate of Modica

A colourful floor

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The Maiolica of the staircase

A feast only for Scicli

New roads for Catania

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

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

The Burgos crucifix

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Searching for colour

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

Limestone, the colour of harmony

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Many owners, one palace

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A museum to save a tradition

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A miniature city

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

One city, three sites

The theatre of taste

A long reconstruction

The internal colours

The colours of the cathedral

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The city of museums

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

An eagle-shaped city

A hall for the feasts

A prominent church

Between white and black

Norman apses

A new site for a new church

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The wall comes to life

A city in colour

From International Gothic to present day

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Some prestigious works

Feast days

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

A triumph of colour

A half-Baroque church

A new site for a new city

The Baroque town by the sea

A talking palace

Prominent façade

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

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

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

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

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

A square as the heart of the city

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The church of Carmine

Discovering the mother church

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Wonderful quick decorations

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Staircase of Angels

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The disastrous earthquake

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

One city, two sites

The interior and its masterpieces

Two illustrious patron saints

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Some masterpieces