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 new site for a new church

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

A triumph of colour

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The interior and its masterpieces

A colourful floor

Feasting in Palazzolo

One city, three sites

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A miniature city

Some masterpieces

Discovering the mother church

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

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Searching for colour

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

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The internal colours

The Burgos crucifix

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The Staircase of Angels

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

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

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

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

A talking palace

The city of museums

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The wall comes to life

Many owners, one palace

A half-Baroque church

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Norman apses

The chocolate of Modica

A museum to save a tradition

A hall for the feasts

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A square as the heart of the city

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Baroque town by the sea

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Limestone, the colour of harmony

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

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The Maiolica of the staircase

Some prestigious works

A symbol for the town

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A long reconstruction

A new site for a new city

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A city in colour

Feast days

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The theatre of taste

New roads for Catania

A prominent church

From International Gothic to present day

The two churches

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The façade used as a puppet theatre

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

The church of Carmine

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Prominent façade

The disastrous earthquake

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

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

Two illustrious patron saints

The colours of the cathedral

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A small room with a golden entrance

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

An eagle-shaped city

A feast only for Scicli

Between white and black

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

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

One city, two sites

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A majestic and luminous church

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

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