Noto

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

hearing
The voices of the Infiorata festival

If we lived in Palazzo Nicolaci and were in one of the rooms overlooking Via Corrado Nicolaci, on the third Sunday in May we would hear voices in the street.
On this day, the Saluto alla Primavera (Greeting to Spring) is celebrated, also known as the Infiorata, which attracts many people to Noto.
Every year, depending on the theme, sixteen pictures are created with petals and the street is filled with voices.
You would hear comments about the pictures, the clicking of cameras, children running up and down the street and people greeting one another for the occasion.

sight
The journey of the Sun

The hall of feasts, or yellow room, hosted banquets and social events to which all the nobles of the surrounding area were invited.
Our attention is drawn to the room’s ceiling fresco, where Apollo is depicted driving the chariot of the Sun.
In this representation the sun takes the same exact path that it takes over the city of Noto.
No detail was left to chance! The Sun, the light, that which illuminates and gives life was painted as faithfully as in reality.

Wonderful quick decorations

A square as the heart of the city

Two illustrious patron saints

A feast only for Scicli

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

A prominent church

A hall for the feasts

The disastrous earthquake

Norman apses

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

Discovering the mother church

One city, three sites

Many owners, one palace

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

A long reconstruction

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Between white and black

A new site for a new church

The Baroque town by the sea

A museum to save a tradition

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A miniature city

An eagle-shaped city

Prominent façade

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A colourful floor

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

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A symbol for the town

Some masterpieces

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The Burgos crucifix

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The two churches

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

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

A half-Baroque church

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Some prestigious works

Searching for colour

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

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

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

The Staircase of Angels

The chocolate of Modica

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

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

The colours of the cathedral

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

A triumph of colour

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A city in colour

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A new site for a new city

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A small room with a golden entrance

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Connections with other UNESCO sites

A talking palace

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

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A majestic and luminous church

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The city of museums

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

One city, two sites

The wall comes to life

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

New roads for Catania

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The internal colours

Feast days

The interior and its masterpieces

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

The Maiolica of the staircase

The church of Carmine

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Feasting in Palazzolo

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The theatre of taste

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

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

From International Gothic to present day