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).

Some masterpieces

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The Baroque town by the sea

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

The colours of the cathedral

Between white and black

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

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The city of museums

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

Wonderful quick decorations

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

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

The two churches

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

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The chocolate of Modica

A majestic and luminous church

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A talking palace

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A miniature city

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

New roads for Catania

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The theatre of taste

A square as the heart of the city

From International Gothic to present day

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Many owners, one palace

A prominent church

The wall comes to life

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

The Burgos crucifix

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A new site for a new city

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A hall for the feasts

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The interior and its masterpieces

A symbol for the town

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A museum to save a tradition

Connections with other UNESCO sites

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

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

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

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

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

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

The church of Carmine

A long reconstruction

Feasting in Palazzolo

Discovering the mother church

The Staircase of Angels

An eagle-shaped city

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

A city in colour

A triumph of colour

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A Nobel Prize in Modica

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Some prestigious works

A half-Baroque church

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Norman apses

A new site for a new church

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The Maiolica of the staircase

One city, three sites

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Two illustrious patron saints

The internal colours

Prominent façade

A colourful floor

Feast days

A small room with a golden entrance

One city, two sites

Searching for colour

The disastrous earthquake

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