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.

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

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

The internal colours

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A miniature city

The Staircase of Angels

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

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

Some prestigious works

The theatre of taste

One city, three sites

The interior and its masterpieces

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A prominent church

A symbol for the town

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The wall comes to life

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The two churches

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The Baroque town by the sea

A hall for the feasts

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

Many owners, one palace

A colourful floor

Feasting in Palazzolo

Feast days

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A city in colour

From International Gothic to present day

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

The Maiolica of the staircase

Discovering the mother church

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

New roads for Catania

One city, two sites

A museum to save a tradition

A talking palace

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

An eagle-shaped city

A new site for a new city

Modica, a city with ancient origins

A half-Baroque church

Searching for colour

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Prominent façade

A new site for a new church

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Some masterpieces

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

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The chocolate of Modica

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

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The disastrous earthquake

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The colours of the cathedral

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The city of museums

Two illustrious patron saints

Wonderful quick decorations

A majestic and luminous church

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Between white and black

St. Sebastian, so much work!

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Norman apses

The church of Carmine

The Burgos crucifix

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

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

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A small room with a golden entrance

A triumph of colour

A long reconstruction

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A feast only for Scicli

A square as the heart of the city

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra