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).

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The theatre of taste

Some prestigious works

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The wall comes to life

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The interior and its masterpieces

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The chocolate of Modica

The church of Carmine

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

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

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The Burgos crucifix

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A city in colour

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A triumph of colour

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A half-Baroque church

A hall for the feasts

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

A small room with a golden entrance

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

Wonderful quick decorations

A long reconstruction

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Feasting in Palazzolo

One city, three sites

A museum to save a tradition

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A new site for a new city

A colourful floor

A majestic and luminous church

New roads for Catania

Some masterpieces

Two illustrious patron saints

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

The disastrous earthquake

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The internal colours

One city, two sites

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Prominent façade

Between white and black

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

A feast only for Scicli

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

A prominent church

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

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The city of museums

An eagle-shaped city

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The Maiolica of the staircase

The Staircase of Angels

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A new site for a new church

A miniature city

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Searching for colour

Many owners, one palace

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

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

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Norman apses

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A square as the heart of the city

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

The two churches

Feast days

A symbol for the town

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The Baroque town by the sea

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

The colours of the cathedral

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

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

Discovering the mother church

From International Gothic to present day

A talking palace