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. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

A prominent church

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A new site for a new city

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

Wonderful quick decorations

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

A miniature city

The façade used as a puppet theatre

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

New roads for Catania

Many owners, one palace

Feast days

The Staircase of Angels

The Maiolica of the staircase

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Some prestigious works

The Burgos crucifix

A talking palace

A triumph of colour

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

The internal colours

An eagle-shaped city

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The colours of the cathedral

A square as the heart of the city

Norman apses

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A hall for the feasts

Prominent façade

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

A new site for a new church

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Searching for colour

A half-Baroque church

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

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

One city, three sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Two illustrious patron saints

The chocolate of Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Some masterpieces

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The city of museums

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

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The interior and its masterpieces

The two churches

Modica, a city with ancient origins

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Limestone, the colour of harmony

One city, two sites

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

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

A symbol for the town

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Between white and black

A museum to save a tradition

A small room with a golden entrance

A majestic and luminous church

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

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

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A colourful floor

The disastrous earthquake

From International Gothic to present day

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

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

A feast only for Scicli

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The theatre of taste

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The church of Carmine

Discovering the mother church

A long reconstruction

Feasting in Palazzolo

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

A city in colour

The Baroque town by the sea

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

The wall comes to life

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction