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).

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Many owners, one palace

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Discovering the mother church

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

One city, three sites

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A colourful floor

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

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A small room with a golden entrance

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

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

Two illustrious patron saints

Some prestigious works

A talking palace

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The internal colours

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The wall comes to life

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

An eagle-shaped city

Feast days

A miniature city

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

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

Searching for colour

A long reconstruction

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The disastrous earthquake

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

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

Feasting in Palazzolo

A symbol for the town

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

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

A prominent church

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

A triumph of colour

The colours of the cathedral

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The Baroque town by the sea

Norman apses

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A city in colour

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

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Some masterpieces

The two churches

Prominent façade

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A new site for a new city

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The Maiolica of the staircase

The chocolate of Modica

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The church of Carmine

A new site for a new church

A square as the heart of the city

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

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

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The city of museums

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

A majestic and luminous church

A half-Baroque church

Wonderful quick decorations

St. Sebastian, so much work!

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

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A museum to save a tradition

A hall for the feasts

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

From International Gothic to present day

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

New roads for Catania

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The interior and its masterpieces

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

One city, two sites

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The theatre of taste

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The Burgos crucifix

The Staircase of Angels

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Between white and black