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 the Annunciation

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

New roads for Catania

An eagle-shaped city

Modica, a city with ancient origins

A new site for a new church

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A colourful floor

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

The Baroque town by the sea

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Wonderful quick decorations

The wall comes to life

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Searching for colour

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Feast days

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A square as the heart of the city

A feast only for Scicli

Many owners, one palace

Discovering the mother church

Two illustrious patron saints

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

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The city of museums

A majestic and luminous church

A prominent church

Some prestigious works

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A talking palace

Connections with other UNESCO sites

A new site for a new city

A small room with a golden entrance

The church of Carmine

A long reconstruction

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The Staircase of Angels

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The Burgos crucifix

Feasting in Palazzolo

The two churches

The chocolate of Modica

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Maiolica of the staircase

A triumph of colour

A museum to save a tradition

A half-Baroque church

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The disastrous earthquake

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Some masterpieces

The colours of the cathedral

Norman apses

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

The theatre of taste

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A city in colour

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

A hall for the feasts

A miniature city

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The internal colours

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

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

One city, three sites

The interior and its masterpieces

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

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

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

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

A symbol for the town

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

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

Prominent façade

One city, two sites

From International Gothic to present day

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Between white and black

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

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

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

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