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 Mother Church of San Nicolò and of the Santissimo Salvatore

A small room with a golden entrance

From International Gothic to present day

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Between white and black

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

An eagle-shaped city

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

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The Burgos crucifix

A new site for a new church

A long reconstruction

A museum to save a tradition

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Prominent façade

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A hall for the feasts

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Feast days

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Searching for colour

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A triumph of colour

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

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The Maiolica of the staircase

A colourful floor

The wall comes to life

A half-Baroque church

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

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

The chocolate of Modica

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The interior and its masterpieces

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Wonderful quick decorations

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The Baroque town by the sea

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Some masterpieces

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

One city, two sites

A miniature city

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The city of museums

The theatre of taste

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

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

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A prominent church

Modica, a city with ancient origins

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

Two illustrious patron saints

Limestone, the colour of harmony

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

The internal colours

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

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

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A city in colour

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Some prestigious works

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A feast only for Scicli

Discovering the mother church

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The Staircase of Angels

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A symbol for the town

The two churches

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

One city, three sites

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The disastrous earthquake

New roads for Catania

Feasting in Palazzolo

The colours of the cathedral

A new site for a new city

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

The church of Carmine

Norman apses

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A talking palace

Many owners, one palace

A majestic and luminous church

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

A square as the heart of the city