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).

A colourful floor

A miniature city

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

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

A museum to save a tradition

Some masterpieces

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A half-Baroque church

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A square as the heart of the city

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

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

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The Maiolica of the staircase

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

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

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

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

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

The theatre of taste

The chocolate of Modica

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A long reconstruction

Norman apses

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The city of museums

A hall for the feasts

A feast only for Scicli

The church of Carmine

Discovering the mother church

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The Burgos crucifix

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The disastrous earthquake

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

Wonderful quick decorations

Connections with other UNESCO sites

A triumph of colour

A prominent church

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A new site for a new church

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

From International Gothic to present day

New roads for Catania

Between white and black

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

A new site for a new city

The Baroque town by the sea

St. Sebastian, so much work!

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

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

Prominent façade

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

Feast days

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Two illustrious patron saints

Searching for colour

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The wall comes to life

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Some prestigious works

Feasting in Palazzolo

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

A city in colour

The two churches

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Many owners, one palace

The Staircase of Angels

One city, three sites

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

A symbol for the town

The internal colours

A talking palace

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

A majestic and luminous church

One city, two sites

The interior and its masterpieces

A small room with a golden entrance

An eagle-shaped city

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

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

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The colours of the cathedral