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

A miniature city

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

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

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

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

The internal colours

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A majestic and luminous church

A long reconstruction

The Burgos crucifix

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The Baroque town by the sea

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

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

From International Gothic to present day

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The chocolate of Modica

Norman apses

A triumph of colour

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

The wall comes to life

Wonderful quick decorations

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

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

Limestone, the colour of harmony

An eagle-shaped city

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

A symbol for the town

The Staircase of Angels

Searching for colour

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Two illustrious patron saints

The two churches

New roads for Catania

The interior and its masterpieces

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The disastrous earthquake

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A half-Baroque church

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

The colours of the cathedral

A new site for a new church

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A square as the heart of the city

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Feasting in Palazzolo

A new site for a new city

The Maiolica of the staircase

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

Discovering the mother church

Feast days

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The façade used as a puppet theatre

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

A museum to save a tradition

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

A city in colour

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

One city, three sites

Prominent façade

The city of museums

A talking palace

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The theatre of taste

The church of Carmine

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

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

A prominent church

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

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

A small room with a golden entrance

A hall for the feasts

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Connections with other UNESCO sites

A feast only for Scicli

Between white and black

Some masterpieces

Some prestigious works

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

A colourful floor

Many owners, one palace