Noto

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

hearing
The voices of the Infiorata festival

If we lived in Palazzo Nicolaci and were in one of the rooms overlooking Via Corrado Nicolaci, on the third Sunday in May we would hear voices in the street.
On this day, the Saluto alla Primavera (Greeting to Spring) is celebrated, also known as the Infiorata, which attracts many people to Noto.
Every year, depending on the theme, sixteen pictures are created with petals and the street is filled with voices.
You would hear comments about the pictures, the clicking of cameras, children running up and down the street and people greeting one another for the occasion.

sight
The journey of the Sun

The hall of feasts, or yellow room, hosted banquets and social events to which all the nobles of the surrounding area were invited.
Our attention is drawn to the room’s ceiling fresco, where Apollo is depicted driving the chariot of the Sun.
In this representation the sun takes the same exact path that it takes over the city of Noto.
No detail was left to chance! The Sun, the light, that which illuminates and gives life was painted as faithfully as in reality.

Norman apses

The church of Carmine

A museum to save a tradition

A city in colour

An eagle-shaped city

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

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A symbol for the town

The Burgos crucifix

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The theatre of taste

One city, two sites

The colours of the cathedral

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

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

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Feasting in Palazzolo

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

The interior and its masterpieces

The chocolate of Modica

Between white and black

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

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A prominent church

A new site for a new city

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The Maiolica of the staircase

A long reconstruction

A half-Baroque church

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Two illustrious patron saints

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

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

A hall for the feasts

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A square as the heart of the city

From International Gothic to present day

A colourful floor

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

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

A small room with a golden entrance

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The internal colours

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The disastrous earthquake

The Staircase of Angels

Some prestigious works

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A feast only for Scicli

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

One city, three sites

A miniature city

Connections with other UNESCO sites

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

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

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

The city of museums

The façade used as a puppet theatre

New roads for Catania

Wonderful quick decorations

Many owners, one palace

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Prominent façade

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Feast days

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

The wall comes to life

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Searching for colour

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The Baroque town by the sea

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

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

A talking palace

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Some masterpieces

The two churches

Discovering the mother church

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A majestic and luminous church

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

A triumph of colour

A new site for a new church

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras