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).

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The Staircase of Angels

Searching for colour

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A symbol for the town

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

A feast only for Scicli

A new site for a new church

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Some masterpieces

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A hall for the feasts

The wall comes to life

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The two churches

A square as the heart of the city

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

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The Burgos crucifix

A new site for a new city

The theatre of taste

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A talking palace

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A city in colour

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A long reconstruction

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A colourful floor

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Discovering the mother church

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

Feasting in Palazzolo

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The church of Carmine

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Modica, a city with ancient origins

A prominent church

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A half-Baroque church

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

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

Many owners, one palace

A small room with a golden entrance

Two illustrious patron saints

A majestic and luminous church

From International Gothic to present day

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Prominent façade

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

One city, two sites

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

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

Between white and black

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The internal colours

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

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

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

The city of museums

The Baroque town by the sea

One city, three sites

A museum to save a tradition

Norman apses

The Maiolica of the staircase

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

New roads for Catania

The colours of the cathedral

Some prestigious works

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Feast days

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

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

A triumph of colour

The disastrous earthquake

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The interior and its masterpieces

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Wonderful quick decorations

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

A miniature city

An eagle-shaped city

The chocolate of Modica