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 Santa Maria del Carmelo

Some prestigious works

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

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

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

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

Connections with other UNESCO sites

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

The wall comes to life

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

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

The theatre of taste

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Feasting in Palazzolo

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A hall for the feasts

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The church of Carmine

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The Staircase of Angels

The internal colours

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

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

The Maiolica of the staircase

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A city in colour

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A colourful floor

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

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Searching for colour

One city, three sites

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

Norman apses

Two illustrious patron saints

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

One city, two sites

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A new site for a new city

A new site for a new church

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

Many owners, one palace

A square as the heart of the city

The chocolate of Modica

Some masterpieces

New roads for Catania

A talking palace

A feast only for Scicli

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Prominent façade

From International Gothic to present day

A prominent church

Wonderful quick decorations

St. Sebastian, so much work!

A long reconstruction

Discovering the mother church

The city of museums

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

The interior and its masterpieces

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A triumph of colour

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A half-Baroque church

The Baroque town by the sea

The façade used as a puppet theatre

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A symbol for the town

A miniature city

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

An eagle-shaped city

Modica, a city with ancient origins

A small room with a golden entrance

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The disastrous earthquake

Between white and black

The Burgos crucifix

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A museum to save a tradition

The two churches

Feast days

The colours of the cathedral

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

A majestic and luminous church