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).

Norman apses

One city, three sites

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Feast days

The chocolate of Modica

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

From International Gothic to present day

Discovering the mother church

Searching for colour

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The interior and its masterpieces

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The theatre of taste

The two churches

The Maiolica of the staircase

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

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

Two illustrious patron saints

The Burgos crucifix

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

A square as the heart of the city

Prominent façade

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A hall for the feasts

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Some masterpieces

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A talking palace

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

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

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The internal colours

The Staircase of Angels

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Modica, a city with ancient origins

A new site for a new church

A triumph of colour

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

One city, two sites

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A prominent church

Many owners, one palace

A museum to save a tradition

Feasting in Palazzolo

New roads for Catania

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

A majestic and luminous church

A symbol for the town

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

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The church of Carmine

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A miniature city

Limestone, the colour of harmony

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

Wonderful quick decorations

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A city in colour

A colourful floor

The colours of the cathedral

A new site for a new city

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

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

Between white and black

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A long reconstruction

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

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

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The wall comes to life

A Nobel Prize in Modica

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The Baroque town by the sea

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

The city of museums

An eagle-shaped city

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The disastrous earthquake

Some prestigious works

A small room with a golden entrance

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

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

A half-Baroque church

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento