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 San Benedetto

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A small room with a golden entrance

A new site for a new church

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Feasting in Palazzolo

A square as the heart of the city

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The Baroque town by the sea

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

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

Connections with other UNESCO sites

One city, three sites

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

A miniature city

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Searching for colour

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Discovering the mother church

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Wonderful quick decorations

The Staircase of Angels

Feast days

A symbol for the town

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

The Burgos crucifix

Between white and black

Two illustrious patron saints

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

New roads for Catania

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

A colourful floor

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A long reconstruction

A new site for a new city

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A city in colour

A triumph of colour

The wall comes to life

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

One city, two sites

The church of Carmine

A majestic and luminous church

A half-Baroque church

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Many owners, one palace

The theatre of taste

A museum to save a tradition

A talking palace

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

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

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

The disastrous earthquake

From International Gothic to present day

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Some masterpieces

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A feast only for Scicli

The two churches

An eagle-shaped city

Prominent façade

The colours of the cathedral

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The chocolate of Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The interior and its masterpieces

The Maiolica of the staircase

Norman apses

A hall for the feasts

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Some prestigious works

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

The internal colours

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

A prominent church

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

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

The city of museums

Modica, a city with ancient origins