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.

A small room with a golden entrance

A new site for a new church

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The chocolate of Modica

From International Gothic to present day

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

Some prestigious works

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

Between white and black

Prominent façade

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

The two churches

Feasting in Palazzolo

A majestic and luminous church

Wonderful quick decorations

One city, three sites

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

The city of museums

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A new site for a new city

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

A colourful floor

A half-Baroque church

The colours of the cathedral

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A feast only for Scicli

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A square as the heart of the city

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

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

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A prominent church

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

A long reconstruction

The disastrous earthquake

The interior and its masterpieces

An eagle-shaped city

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Feast days

The Maiolica of the staircase

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A triumph of colour

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

A miniature city

The Burgos crucifix

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

A Nobel Prize in Modica

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

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

A hall for the feasts

A museum to save a tradition

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

New roads for Catania

A symbol for the town

Two illustrious patron saints

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

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

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

The internal colours

The church of Carmine

Discovering the mother church

The Staircase of Angels

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The wall comes to life

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The Baroque town by the sea

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

A city in colour

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

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

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Some masterpieces

One city, two sites

A talking palace

Many owners, one palace

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

The theatre of taste

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Norman apses

Searching for colour

Connections with other UNESCO sites