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 Giuliano ai Crociferi

A square as the heart of the city

The wall comes to life

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

From International Gothic to present day

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

One city, three sites

A long reconstruction

A half-Baroque church

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The Baroque town by the sea

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The Burgos crucifix

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The Maiolica of the staircase

One city, two sites

Between white and black

Wonderful quick decorations

A talking palace

An eagle-shaped city

A city in colour

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Prominent façade

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Feast days

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

A new site for a new city

The colours of the cathedral

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Staircase of Angels

The internal colours

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

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

Norman apses

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

Searching for colour

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A museum to save a tradition

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The chocolate of Modica

A hall for the feasts

New roads for Catania

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Some masterpieces

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

Many owners, one palace

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The city of museums

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A prominent church

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The disastrous earthquake

The interior and its masterpieces

A symbol for the town

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

The church of Carmine

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

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

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

A feast only for Scicli

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Two illustrious patron saints

A majestic and luminous church

Discovering the mother church

The theatre of taste

A triumph of colour

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

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

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A new site for a new church

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

A miniature city

Feasting in Palazzolo

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

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

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A colourful floor

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

The two churches

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A small room with a golden entrance

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Some prestigious works