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).

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

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

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Some masterpieces

A museum to save a tradition

Searching for colour

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A feast only for Scicli

The interior and its masterpieces

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

An eagle-shaped city

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The disastrous earthquake

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A hall for the feasts

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

The city of museums

The Burgos crucifix

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A majestic and luminous church

Wonderful quick decorations

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

A half-Baroque church

The church of Carmine

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Prominent façade

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

A new site for a new church

A prominent church

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Many owners, one palace

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

A miniature city

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Norman apses

A colourful floor

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A triumph of colour

A city in colour

Between white and black

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

From International Gothic to present day

The colours of the cathedral

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Discovering the mother church

A small room with a golden entrance

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

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Some prestigious works

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The two churches

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

One city, three sites

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

One city, two sites

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

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

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

A long reconstruction

A square as the heart of the city

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Two illustrious patron saints

Feast days

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A symbol for the town

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

The Maiolica of the staircase

The theatre of taste

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

Feasting in Palazzolo

A talking palace

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The Staircase of Angels

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A new site for a new city

The Baroque town by the sea

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

The wall comes to life

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The internal colours

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

The chocolate of Modica

New roads for Catania