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).

An eagle-shaped city

The interior and its masterpieces

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

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

Between white and black

A half-Baroque church

The Baroque town by the sea

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The two churches

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

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

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

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

Many owners, one palace

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The wall comes to life

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The Staircase of Angels

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The church of Carmine

A colourful floor

Feast days

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

One city, two sites

Some masterpieces

A feast only for Scicli

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

One city, three sites

A small room with a golden entrance

The colours of the cathedral

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

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

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

A city in colour

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A talking palace

Discovering the mother church

Feasting in Palazzolo

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Norman apses

The Burgos crucifix

Modica, a city with ancient origins

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

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

The theatre of taste

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A new site for a new church

A square as the heart of the city

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A hall for the feasts

A symbol for the town

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

Some prestigious works

The city of museums

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Connections with other UNESCO sites

A miniature city

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

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

A long reconstruction

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A museum to save a tradition

The chocolate of Modica

Searching for colour

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Wonderful quick decorations

The Maiolica of the staircase

New roads for Catania

The internal colours

Two illustrious patron saints

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The disastrous earthquake

A new site for a new city

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A prominent church

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

A majestic and luminous church

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Prominent façade

From International Gothic to present day

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A triumph of colour