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.

One city, two sites

The internal colours

A museum to save a tradition

A new site for a new city

Many owners, one palace

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The colours of the cathedral

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A prominent church

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

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

Searching for colour

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A triumph of colour

The two churches

A talking palace

Wonderful quick decorations

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Discovering the mother church

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

A small room with a golden entrance

A new site for a new church

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The interior and its masterpieces

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

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

Limestone, the colour of harmony

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

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

From International Gothic to present day

A majestic and luminous church

A colourful floor

A square as the heart of the city

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Feast days

A long reconstruction

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Prominent façade

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

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

The Staircase of Angels

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

An eagle-shaped city

Two illustrious patron saints

A hall for the feasts

The wall comes to life

The chocolate of Modica

Between white and black

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The church of Carmine

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

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The theatre of taste

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

One city, three sites

Some prestigious works

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

A symbol for the town

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Some masterpieces

A city in colour

The disastrous earthquake

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The Maiolica of the staircase

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Baroque town by the sea

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

Feasting in Palazzolo

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The Burgos crucifix

A half-Baroque church

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The city of museums

New roads for Catania

Norman apses

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A miniature city