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).

Many owners, one palace

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

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

A small room with a golden entrance

A half-Baroque church

A colourful floor

A hall for the feasts

The Staircase of Angels

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

A majestic and luminous church

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The two churches

A museum to save a tradition

A square as the heart of the city

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The interior and its masterpieces

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The colours of the cathedral

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The theatre of taste

The Maiolica of the staircase

A talking palace

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Some masterpieces

A triumph of colour

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

One city, three sites

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A new site for a new church

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Two illustrious patron saints

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

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The Burgos crucifix

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Between white and black

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Prominent façade

Discovering the mother church

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

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

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A new site for a new city

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

A long reconstruction

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

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

A miniature city

The church of Carmine

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A feast only for Scicli

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

Feasting in Palazzolo

Feast days

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

The city of museums

Wonderful quick decorations

Some prestigious works

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

An eagle-shaped city

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

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Searching for colour

The chocolate of Modica

The Baroque town by the sea

New roads for Catania

From International Gothic to present day

A city in colour

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A prominent church

The wall comes to life

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A symbol for the town

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Norman apses

The disastrous earthquake

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

One city, two sites

The internal colours

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

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

The Barresi-Branciforte lords