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).

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

A symbol for the town

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A new site for a new church

A talking palace

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The chocolate of Modica

Two illustrious patron saints

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The Maiolica of the staircase

The Baroque town by the sea

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

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

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

A small room with a golden entrance

A square as the heart of the city

Modica, a city with ancient origins

A miniature city

The wall comes to life

A long reconstruction

One city, three sites

The internal colours

A hall for the feasts

The theatre of taste

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

New roads for Catania

Some masterpieces

An eagle-shaped city

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Norman apses

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

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

A new site for a new city

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The two churches

Between white and black

The city of museums

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

Searching for colour

The interior and its masterpieces

The church of Carmine

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Many owners, one palace

A majestic and luminous church

A half-Baroque church

A city in colour

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

The disastrous earthquake

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The Burgos crucifix

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

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Wonderful quick decorations

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

A triumph of colour

Feast days

Some prestigious works

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Discovering the mother church

A prominent church

The Staircase of Angels

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

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

A feast only for Scicli

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

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Feasting in Palazzolo

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Prominent façade

One city, two sites

From International Gothic to present day

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

The colours of the cathedral

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

A colourful floor

A museum to save a tradition

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto