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 San Giuliano ai Crociferi

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A feast only for Scicli

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Two illustrious patron saints

A half-Baroque church

A new site for a new church

The chocolate of Modica

The church of Carmine

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Some prestigious works

Searching for colour

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

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

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The Baroque town by the sea

A city in colour

A long reconstruction

The Burgos crucifix

Norman apses

A museum to save a tradition

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Between white and black

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A prominent church

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

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The Staircase of Angels

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

A talking palace

The internal colours

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Many owners, one palace

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

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Prominent façade

A square as the heart of the city

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

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Wonderful quick decorations

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The Maiolica of the staircase

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A small room with a golden entrance

The two churches

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Discovering the mother church

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

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

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

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

A miniature city

An eagle-shaped city

The theatre of taste

One city, three sites

A symbol for the town

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

Feast days

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

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

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

The interior and its masterpieces

New roads for Catania

Some masterpieces

A colourful floor

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

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

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

One city, two sites

A majestic and luminous church

A hall for the feasts

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The disastrous earthquake

A new site for a new city

The city of museums

A triumph of colour

Feasting in Palazzolo

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The colours of the cathedral

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

The wall comes to life

From International Gothic to present day