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 half-Baroque church

The colours of the cathedral

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Norman apses

Limestone, the colour of harmony

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

The chocolate of Modica

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A small room with a golden entrance

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The theatre of taste

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

New roads for Catania

A hall for the feasts

An eagle-shaped city

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Searching for colour

A symbol for the town

The Baroque town by the sea

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A new site for a new church

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The city of museums

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Many owners, one palace

Feast days

A feast only for Scicli

A colourful floor

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

A square as the heart of the city

Two illustrious patron saints

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

A museum to save a tradition

One city, two sites

Some masterpieces

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The Staircase of Angels

From International Gothic to present day

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The wall comes to life

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

Between white and black

A new site for a new city

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The two churches

The disastrous earthquake

The Maiolica of the staircase

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A long reconstruction

A miniature city

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Wonderful quick decorations

A majestic and luminous church

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

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The Burgos crucifix

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

The interior and its masterpieces

Discovering the mother church

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

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

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

Some prestigious works

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Feasting in Palazzolo

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

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A talking palace

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

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

A triumph of colour

The church of Carmine

A prominent church

Prominent façade

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

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

The internal colours

One city, three sites

A city in colour