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).

Some masterpieces

A museum to save a tradition

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Feast days

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

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

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A talking palace

The interior and its masterpieces

St. Sebastian, so much work!

A hall for the feasts

The two churches

The theatre of taste

Between white and black

The Staircase of Angels

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Discovering the mother church

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A square as the heart of the city

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

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The city of museums

A long reconstruction

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Limestone, the colour of harmony

One city, two sites

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The internal colours

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The colours of the cathedral

A city in colour

An eagle-shaped city

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

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A symbol for the town

Many owners, one palace

A half-Baroque church

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

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

Feasting in Palazzolo

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

Prominent façade

The chocolate of Modica

A small room with a golden entrance

The church of Carmine

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The Maiolica of the staircase

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

New roads for Catania

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A new site for a new church

The Burgos crucifix

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

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

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The Baroque town by the sea

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The disastrous earthquake

A prominent church

From International Gothic to present day

A colourful floor

A majestic and luminous church

Some prestigious works

A miniature city

Norman apses

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

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

One city, three sites

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

Wonderful quick decorations

A triumph of colour

Two illustrious patron saints

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The wall comes to life

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

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

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

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

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

Searching for colour

A new site for a new city