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).

From International Gothic to present day

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The theatre of taste

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

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

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

New roads for Catania

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Feasting in Palazzolo

Wonderful quick decorations

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

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

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A colourful floor

A long reconstruction

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

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

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

A prominent church

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A new site for a new city

The internal colours

The church of Carmine

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

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

Connections with other UNESCO sites

A triumph of colour

A talking palace

The wall comes to life

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

A half-Baroque church

A square as the heart of the city

Two illustrious patron saints

The Staircase of Angels

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Some prestigious works

Some masterpieces

The chocolate of Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

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

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

Norman apses

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

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

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

One city, two sites

Many owners, one palace

The colours of the cathedral

The city of museums

A symbol for the town

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A miniature city

Feast days

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A hall for the feasts

One city, three sites

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

The disastrous earthquake

The two churches

A feast only for Scicli

An eagle-shaped city

A small room with a golden entrance

A majestic and luminous church

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The Maiolica of the staircase

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

A city in colour

A museum to save a tradition

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Discovering the mother church

The interior and its masterpieces

A new site for a new church

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Searching for colour

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Burgos crucifix

Between white and black

The Baroque town by the sea

Prominent façade

Modica, a city with ancient origins