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).

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

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

A hall for the feasts

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Norman apses

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

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

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

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Discovering the mother church

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

St. Sebastian, so much work!

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

One city, three sites

A new site for a new city

The colours of the cathedral

A miniature city

The Baroque town by the sea

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The interior and its masterpieces

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

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Some masterpieces

From International Gothic to present day

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A prominent church

The Burgos crucifix

New roads for Catania

A symbol for the town

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A square as the heart of the city

A city in colour

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The city of museums

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The Maiolica of the staircase

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A majestic and luminous church

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Many owners, one palace

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The chocolate of Modica

A small room with a golden entrance

The wall comes to life

A feast only for Scicli

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

One city, two sites

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

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

A talking palace

Wonderful quick decorations

The disastrous earthquake

Two illustrious patron saints

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A new site for a new church

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The internal colours

The theatre of taste

The church of Carmine

Between white and black

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A museum to save a tradition

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

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

Some prestigious works

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

A triumph of colour

An eagle-shaped city

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Feast days

A long reconstruction

Prominent façade

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Feasting in Palazzolo

Searching for colour

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Limestone, the colour of harmony

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 the Annunciation

A half-Baroque church

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Staircase of Angels

The two churches

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras