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).

Many owners, one palace

A triumph of colour

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Two illustrious patron saints

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Feasting in Palazzolo

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

Feast days

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Wonderful quick decorations

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A hall for the feasts

The Baroque town by the sea

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

A symbol for the town

Norman apses

From International Gothic to present day

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Discovering the mother church

The two churches

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Some masterpieces

New roads for Catania

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

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

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

A museum to save a tradition

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

A half-Baroque church

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

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Between white and black

One city, two sites

A new site for a new city

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The city of museums

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

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

The Burgos crucifix

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

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

A city in colour

A long reconstruction

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

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The theatre of taste

The disastrous earthquake

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

A prominent church

A square as the heart of the city

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Prominent façade

A colourful floor

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A new site for a new church

The chocolate of Modica

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

Some prestigious works

The colours of the cathedral

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The church of Carmine

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The wall comes to life

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

The Staircase of Angels

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

Modica, a city with ancient origins

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

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A miniature city

A majestic and luminous church

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A feast only for Scicli

The interior and its masterpieces

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The internal colours

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Searching for colour

One city, three sites

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The Maiolica of the staircase

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

An eagle-shaped city

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

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

A small room with a golden entrance

A talking palace

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci