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 interior and its masterpieces

Norman apses

The Baroque town by the sea

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

Feasting in Palazzolo

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The church of Carmine

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

Discovering the mother church

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

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

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

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

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

Some prestigious works

A talking palace

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

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

New roads for Catania

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

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

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

One city, three sites

A majestic and luminous church

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

An eagle-shaped city

A half-Baroque church

Feast days

Connections with other UNESCO sites

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

The two churches

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A prominent church

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The Burgos crucifix

Many owners, one palace

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The disastrous earthquake

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Some masterpieces

Two illustrious patron saints

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A long reconstruction

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Between white and black

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

The internal colours

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The Staircase of Angels

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A city in colour

Prominent façade

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The chocolate of Modica

A square as the heart of the city

A new site for a new city

A new site for a new church

The city of museums

Wonderful quick decorations

The colours of the cathedral

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

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

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

A triumph of colour

Searching for colour

From International Gothic to present day

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The wall comes to life

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A miniature city

A hall for the feasts

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A museum to save a tradition

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The Maiolica of the staircase

A colourful floor

A symbol for the town

The theatre of taste

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A small room with a golden entrance

One city, two sites