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.

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

The theatre of taste

Searching for colour

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

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

A square as the heart of the city

The wall comes to life

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

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

Discovering the mother church

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

One city, three sites

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Some prestigious works

One city, two sites

A small room with a golden entrance

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The Burgos crucifix

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The colours of the cathedral

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

A new site for a new city

An eagle-shaped city

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The city of museums

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Between white and black

The church of Carmine

Prominent façade

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The chocolate of Modica

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

The disastrous earthquake

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Wonderful quick decorations

A hall for the feasts

Many owners, one palace

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

A new site for a new church

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Norman apses

A talking palace

A Nobel Prize in Modica

New roads for Catania

Two illustrious patron saints

Some masterpieces

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

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

A triumph of colour

A majestic and luminous church

A half-Baroque church

From International Gothic to present day

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

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

The internal colours

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

Feast days

The Staircase of Angels

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A long reconstruction

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A city in colour

A colourful floor

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

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

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A miniature city

A museum to save a tradition

A prominent church

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A symbol for the town

The interior and its masterpieces

The Baroque town by the sea

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The Maiolica of the staircase

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

Feasting in Palazzolo

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

The two churches

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

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction