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 the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A museum to save a tradition

Two illustrious patron saints

A triumph of colour

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Prominent façade

A miniature city

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

The interior and its masterpieces

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The disastrous earthquake

A colourful floor

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Baroque town by the sea

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The church of Carmine

A long reconstruction

A new site for a new city

An eagle-shaped city

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

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

A new site for a new church

A symbol for the town

A hall for the feasts

Norman apses

The Burgos crucifix

A talking palace

The Maiolica of the staircase

A small room with a golden entrance

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The colours of the cathedral

A majestic and luminous church

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

St. Sebastian, so much work!

From International Gothic to present day

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

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

The wall comes to life

Discovering the mother church

The façade used as a puppet theatre

One city, three sites

A prominent church

Searching for colour

A half-Baroque church

The theatre of taste

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Many owners, one palace

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Between white and black

A square as the heart of the city

The two churches

Some prestigious works

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

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

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

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

Feast days

Some masterpieces

One city, two sites

Feasting in Palazzolo

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

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

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

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

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

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A Nobel Prize in Modica

New roads for Catania

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

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

The Staircase of Angels

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Wonderful quick decorations

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The city of museums

The internal colours

The chocolate of Modica

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

A city in colour

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano