Noto

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The Infiorata, or Saluto alla Primavera (Greeting to Spring), is one of the most important feasts for Noto and its citizens.
L'infiorata It is a unique opportunity to come together and celebrate. Every year, on the third Sunday of May, since 1979 Via Corrado Nicolaci has been covered in wonderful and colourful pictures of flowers.
On the first Infiorata, the master florists of Genzano, from the province of Rome, were called to Noto to start a long and spectacular tradition, today more alive than ever.
The event is so popular with the public thanks to the many events offered such as exhibitions, rallies and costume parades.
Now let’s find out how the feast is organised today. To create the pictures, every year the Municipality of Noto organises a public competition and asks artists to present and develop a chosen theme.
Only the best sketches are selected.
At this point, having been selected, the experts are asked to complete their paintings when the time is right. 6 metres wide and 4 metres tall, the works cover the whole street, which is 122 metres long.
The end result is a beautiful floral carpet, made of petals from daisies, carnations, gerberas, roses and wildflowers of various sizes and colours.
Though the theme changes year after year, the Infiorata is always opened by the city’s coat of arms made by the Istituto d’arte di Noto (Noto Art Institute).

Searching for colour

A new site for a new church

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

A symbol for the town

The two churches

Some prestigious works

A triumph of colour

The Burgos crucifix

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Between white and black

Discovering the mother church

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

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Two illustrious patron saints

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

From International Gothic to present day

A city in colour

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

A small room with a golden entrance

A majestic and luminous church

One city, three sites

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

A half-Baroque church

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The disastrous earthquake

One city, two sites

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

A talking palace

New roads for Catania

A square as the heart of the city

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

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

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

A feast only for Scicli

Prominent façade

The theatre of taste

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Wonderful quick decorations

The Maiolica of the staircase

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The city of museums

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

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The interior and its masterpieces

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Feasting in Palazzolo

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

The wall comes to life

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The internal colours

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

Some masterpieces

The chocolate of Modica

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

A long reconstruction

The church of Carmine

Many owners, one palace

A prominent church

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

An eagle-shaped city

A hall for the feasts

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A colourful floor

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

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

The colours of the cathedral

Feast days

Connections with other UNESCO sites

A new site for a new city

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

The Staircase of Angels

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

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

A miniature city

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The Baroque town by the sea

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

Norman apses

A museum to save a tradition

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

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