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 façade used as a puppet theatre

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The interior and its masterpieces

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A new site for a new church

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Two illustrious patron saints

A talking palace

The wall comes to life

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The city of museums

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

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The Staircase of Angels

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

The theatre of taste

A small room with a golden entrance

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A square as the heart of the city

One city, two sites

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Between white and black

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Some masterpieces

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

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

A prominent church

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Prominent façade

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The two churches

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

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The internal colours

Wonderful quick decorations

A city in colour

The colours of the cathedral

Discovering the mother church

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The Baroque town by the sea

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Feasting in Palazzolo

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

One city, three sites

A half-Baroque church

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The disastrous earthquake

The chocolate of Modica

New roads for Catania

A long reconstruction

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

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

A museum to save a tradition

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A new site for a new city

The Maiolica of the staircase

The church of Carmine

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

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

Some prestigious works

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Burgos crucifix

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

A feast only for Scicli

An eagle-shaped city

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Feast days

A colourful floor

Connections with other UNESCO sites

A hall for the feasts

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

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Norman apses

From International Gothic to present day

A majestic and luminous church

A symbol for the town

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Many owners, one palace

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

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

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

Searching for colour

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

A miniature city

A triumph of colour