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 Mother Church of San Nicolò and of the Santissimo Salvatore

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The Burgos crucifix

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The wall comes to life

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

Discovering the mother church

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

From International Gothic to present day

A half-Baroque church

The Maiolica of the staircase

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

New roads for Catania

The interior and its masterpieces

Searching for colour

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Some masterpieces

A prominent church

Between white and black

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A museum to save a tradition

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

The colours of the cathedral

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

A feast only for Scicli

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Wonderful quick decorations

The theatre of taste

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

One city, two sites

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A talking palace

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The Staircase of Angels

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

Feasting in Palazzolo

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Some prestigious works

A triumph of colour

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The Baroque town by the sea

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

Norman apses

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

Prominent façade

The internal colours

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

A new site for a new church

A symbol for the town

A city in colour

The chocolate of Modica

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

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Feast days

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Many owners, one palace

A majestic and luminous church

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A small room with a golden entrance

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A miniature city

A new site for a new city

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

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

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

One city, three sites

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The two churches

An eagle-shaped city

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A hall for the feasts

The disastrous earthquake

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

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

Two illustrious patron saints

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The church of Carmine

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

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The city of museums

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

A long reconstruction

A square as the heart of the city