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 story of the Church of the Annunciation

Norman apses

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

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

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Feast days

Prominent façade

A new site for a new city

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

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A square as the heart of the city

The wall comes to life

One city, two sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Two illustrious patron saints

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A hall for the feasts

A city in colour

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A museum to save a tradition

The colours of the cathedral

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A half-Baroque church

Some prestigious works

A long reconstruction

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The church of Carmine

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The Staircase of Angels

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

A triumph of colour

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

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The two churches

From International Gothic to present day

The city of museums

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Searching for colour

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

Between white and black

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

A symbol for the town

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A new site for a new church

One city, three sites

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Discovering the mother church

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

New roads for Catania

A small room with a golden entrance

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

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

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

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A prominent church

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The Maiolica of the staircase

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The chocolate of Modica

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

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The disastrous earthquake

The Burgos crucifix

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

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

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The theatre of taste

Feasting in Palazzolo

Some masterpieces

The Baroque town by the sea

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

St. Sebastian, so much work!

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

A majestic and luminous church

A talking palace

The internal colours

Wonderful quick decorations

An eagle-shaped city

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

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

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A colourful floor

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

A miniature city

The interior and its masterpieces

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Many owners, one palace