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.

The chocolate of Modica

Norman apses

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

Between white and black

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Connections with other UNESCO sites

A small room with a golden entrance

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

A city in colour

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The disastrous earthquake

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A half-Baroque church

The church of Carmine

The city of museums

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

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The Burgos crucifix

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The internal colours

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Some prestigious works

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A hall for the feasts

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Discovering the mother church

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A miniature city

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Some masterpieces

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

A colourful floor

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

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

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

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

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

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

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

One city, three sites

Searching for colour

The two churches

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Two illustrious patron saints

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A prominent church

A talking palace

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

A symbol for the town

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A museum to save a tradition

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

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

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

A long reconstruction

From International Gothic to present day

An eagle-shaped city

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A new site for a new city

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

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

Feast days

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The Staircase of Angels

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The theatre of taste

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Wonderful quick decorations

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Feasting in Palazzolo

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

A triumph of colour

A new site for a new church

Prominent façade

New roads for Catania

A feast only for Scicli

The Baroque town by the sea

The wall comes to life

A majestic and luminous church

One city, two sites

A square as the heart of the city

The interior and its masterpieces

Many owners, one palace

The Maiolica of the staircase

The colours of the cathedral