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 design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Wonderful quick decorations

A feast only for Scicli

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The two churches

A city in colour

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A miniature city

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

A museum to save a tradition

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Many owners, one palace

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A half-Baroque church

A hall for the feasts

Feast days

The interior and its masterpieces

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Between white and black

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The theatre of taste

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A small room with a golden entrance

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A prominent church

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

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

A long reconstruction

The city of museums

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A symbol for the town

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A new site for a new church

A majestic and luminous church

Some masterpieces

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The wall comes to life

New roads for Catania

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Discovering the mother church

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

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Prominent façade

A new site for a new city

Some prestigious works

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

One city, three sites

Searching for colour

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

The internal colours

The Burgos crucifix

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Baroque town by the sea

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The colours of the cathedral

The church of Carmine

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

An eagle-shaped city

The chocolate of Modica

The disastrous earthquake

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

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

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

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

A talking palace

The Staircase of Angels

Two illustrious patron saints

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

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Norman apses

Limestone, the colour of harmony

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A triumph of colour

Feasting in Palazzolo

A square as the heart of the city

The Maiolica of the staircase

Modica, a city with ancient origins

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

One city, two sites

From International Gothic to present day

A colourful floor