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 hall for the feasts

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The Burgos crucifix

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

Many owners, one palace

New roads for Catania

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

The church of Carmine

A new site for a new church

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A symbol for the town

Feasting in Palazzolo

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

One city, two sites

An eagle-shaped city

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The theatre of taste

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Limestone, the colour of harmony

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

A talking palace

The wall comes to life

A city in colour

The disastrous earthquake

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The chocolate of Modica

A long reconstruction

A square as the heart of the city

The colours of the cathedral

The two churches

A prominent church

The city of museums

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Two illustrious patron saints

A miniature city

Some prestigious works

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Feast days

One city, three sites

From International Gothic to present day

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

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

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

The Maiolica of the staircase

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

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

The interior and its masterpieces

Norman apses

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

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

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Between white and black

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The Staircase of Angels

Wonderful quick decorations

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

A colourful floor

The internal colours

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

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

Discovering the mother church

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

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

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A small room with a golden entrance

Searching for colour

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The Baroque town by the sea

A triumph of colour

A half-Baroque church

Connections with other UNESCO sites

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A majestic and luminous church

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Prominent façade

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Some masterpieces

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A new site for a new city

A museum to save a tradition