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 miniature city

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

The city of museums

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The disastrous earthquake

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Modica, a city with ancient origins

A hall for the feasts

A new site for a new city

Searching for colour

A city in colour

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

One city, two sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Two illustrious patron saints

One city, three sites

Prominent façade

Wonderful quick decorations

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The wall comes to life

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

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

Some masterpieces

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Between white and black

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Maiolica of the staircase

The chocolate of Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

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

The colours of the cathedral

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A museum to save a tradition

A talking palace

A triumph of colour

Some prestigious works

The internal colours

From International Gothic to present day

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

An eagle-shaped city

The Burgos crucifix

A symbol for the town

A small room with a golden entrance

The two churches

A square as the heart of the city

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The Baroque town by the sea

A feast only for Scicli

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

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The theatre of taste

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

New roads for Catania

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

A long reconstruction

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

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

A majestic and luminous church

The Staircase of Angels

A new site for a new church

Many owners, one palace

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Norman apses

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

Feast days

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

Discovering the mother church

A prominent church

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Feasting in Palazzolo

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

A colourful floor

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

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 interior and its masterpieces

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A half-Baroque church

The church of Carmine

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Connections with other UNESCO sites