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 the Annunciation

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

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

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The theatre of taste

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

Connections with other UNESCO sites

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

One city, two sites

Two illustrious patron saints

A long reconstruction

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Searching for colour

Many owners, one palace

Between white and black

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Modica, a city with ancient origins

A square as the heart of the city

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

The Baroque town by the sea

The city of museums

The interior and its masterpieces

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

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

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A symbol for the town

St. Sebastian, so much work!

A prominent church

A museum to save a tradition

The chocolate of Modica

A triumph of colour

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

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

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A Nobel Prize in Modica

From International Gothic to present day

The church of Carmine

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A city in colour

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The façade used as a puppet theatre

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A talking palace

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

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

The Maiolica of the staircase

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Feast days

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The wall comes to life

A miniature city

Some prestigious works

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Wonderful quick decorations

A colourful floor

The Staircase of Angels

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A new site for a new church

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

An eagle-shaped city

Feasting in Palazzolo

The disastrous earthquake

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Discovering the mother church

Norman apses

The two churches

Some masterpieces

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A majestic and luminous church

One city, three sites

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

The internal colours

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A new site for a new city

A small room with a golden entrance

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

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

A hall for the feasts

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The colours of the cathedral

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A feast only for Scicli

A half-Baroque church

Prominent façade

New roads for Catania

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

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

The Burgos crucifix

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A new palace for the La Rocca lords