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

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

A prominent church

Some prestigious works

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

New roads for Catania

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A miniature city

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

The theatre of taste

A square as the heart of the city

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The colours of the cathedral

A triumph of colour

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Norman apses

One city, three sites

The chocolate of Modica

One city, two sites

The two churches

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Prominent façade

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

A talking palace

A half-Baroque church

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

A new site for a new city

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

Some masterpieces

From International Gothic to present day

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

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

A small room with a golden entrance

The Baroque town by the sea

A majestic and luminous church

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

A symbol for the town

An eagle-shaped city

The Maiolica of the staircase

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The interior and its masterpieces

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

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

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

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

A feast only for Scicli

Wonderful quick decorations

Limestone, the colour of harmony

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

The internal colours

The disastrous earthquake

The city of museums

A city in colour

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Between white and black

The church of Carmine

A new site for a new church

A museum to save a tradition

A long reconstruction

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The Staircase of Angels

The wall comes to life

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Feasting in Palazzolo

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Discovering the mother church

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

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

Two illustrious patron saints

Searching for colour

Many owners, one palace

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

A hall for the feasts

Modica, a city with ancient origins

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

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

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

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Burgos crucifix

Feast days