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 senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The chocolate of Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The internal colours

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Discovering the mother church

Feast days

Searching for colour

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

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

Some masterpieces

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

A museum to save a tradition

A hall for the feasts

The two churches

Wonderful quick decorations

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

Many owners, one palace

Some prestigious works

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

A triumph of colour

An eagle-shaped city

Two illustrious patron saints

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

New roads for Catania

The church of Carmine

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Feasting in Palazzolo

The theatre of taste

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The disastrous earthquake

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Norman apses

A colourful floor

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The colours of the cathedral

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

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

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The Burgos crucifix

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A long reconstruction

The Staircase of Angels

A small room with a golden entrance

A talking palace

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

From International Gothic to present day

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

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

A miniature city

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

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Between white and black

Prominent façade

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The interior and its masterpieces

The city of museums

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A new site for a new city

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

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

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A prominent church

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

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

A new site for a new church

One city, three sites

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

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The wall comes to life

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The Maiolica of the staircase

St. Sebastian, so much work!

One city, two sites

A half-Baroque church

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A feast only for Scicli

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

A symbol for the town

The Baroque town by the sea

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

A majestic and luminous church

A city in colour

A square as the heart of the city