Noto

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The Infiorata, or Greeting to Spring, is a popular feast started in 1979. It takes place every year in Via Corrado Nicolaci, on the third Sunday of May.
The first Infiorata brought the masters of Genzano (a province in Rome) to Noto. They arranged flowers in geometric and imaginative patterns. With the passage of time, the experience has been handed down and has become a veritable local tradition.
Sixteen large pictures are created on Via Corrado Nicolaci using petals, and each year a different theme is decided by the local government to inspire the master infioratori. The artists present their sketches to the municipal government, which selects the best ones.
The decoration covers the entire street for over 120 metres and each artist has a picture measuring 6 metres wide by 4 metres long.
This way, they create a beautiful floral carpet, formed mostly of petals from daisies, carnations, gerberas, roses and wildflowers of various sizes and colours.
The theme changes year after year, but the Infiorata is always opened by the city’s coat of arms made by the Istituto d’Arte di Noto (Noto Art Institute).
In recent years the Infiorata has been accompanied by the “Corteo Barocco” (Baroque Parade) that evokes the splendour of the families that made the city of Noto great.

Palazzo della Cancelleria: from former stable to the Nicastro family

Fountain of the Nymph Zizza: public water in the town

The works in the church

The senses tell about Palazzo Zacco

Luminous sacred spaces

Scenography, lights and colours of the cathedral

The senses tell the story of the Sanctuary Church of Santa Maria della Stella

The Franciscan convent

Piazza Duomo, the elephant fountain, the heart of the city

Expanded spaces, stucco and colourful lights

Baroque and the loss of balance in the 16th century

The beginning of an authentic Baroque conception

Barresi-Branciforte: the lords of the fiefdom and the modernisation of the town

The senses tell about Palazzo Ducezio

The Palazzo dei due mori

Altars, saints and sculptural works

The Madonna dei Conadomini and the art of devotion

The interior and works of art

The Infiorata of Noto, a modern tradition

The senses tell of Palazzo della Cancelleria

A heritage of votive works

The church and the college

The eagle-shaped city

The church and the monastery

Palazzo Zacco, a balance between sobriety and decoration

Expansion, spatiality and light in the church of San Domenico

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A unifying project for the city of Catania

The Church of St. Francis

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell about Palazzo Trigona

The Antonino Uccello Birthplace Museum

The Church of St. Benedict

The Badia di Sant’Agata (St. Agatha’s Abbey)

Scicli, the city of Baroque scenery

Verticality and dynamism of the façade of the Church of San Carlo

San Domenico and Gagliardi’s work

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The city of Modica, a balance between nature and urbanism

The senses tell of the Cathedral of San Pietro

Views denied, views conquered: the power of the devout Benedictines

The dynamics of the Church of San Michele

The new roads of the city

The freedom of worship and the Catholic Church’s role in the diffusion of Baroque

The senses tell the Church of San Domenico

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The interior of the church: space and colour

Palazzo Trigona di Canicarao

The interiors: diffused light and Byzantine relics

The Church of St. Mary of the Mountain

The triumph of Baroque: expansion of spaces

The senses tell about Palazzo Beneventano

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Carlo and the former Jesuit college

Palazzo Trigona: a building with a complex shape

The senses tell the Cathedral of San Giorgio

The Church of St. Julian on Via dei Crociferi

The illusion of light and the decorative splendour

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Paolo

The Church of St. Paul

City and nature

One city, three sites

Unusual iconographies: the Burgos crucifix

A casket of precious works

The neo-Gothic seminary chapel: symbols, light and space

The art of maiolica

The Benedictines’ library

The Church of Madonna della Stella

Baroque creativity: recurring themes

The Church of St. John the Evangelist

The senses tell the Benedictine Monastery and the Church of San Nicolò l’Arena

Akrai and Syracuse: an unbreakable bond

The church of San Nicolò l’Arena: the majesty of an unfinished beauty

Virtuosity, decorations and altars

The Duomo di San Giorgio (Cathedral of St. George)

The smallest Greek theatre in the world

A new site for the church of San Giorgio

St. Agatha and the candelore

Art in the cathedral

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Reconstruction after the earthquake

Geometry and wonder in civic architecture in the Baroque of the Val di Noto

The senses tell the Church of San Michele

Rebirth and urban planning of the city of Noto

Majestic exteriors, grandiose interiors

The city palace

Religious architecture

From the end of the world to rebirth from the rubble

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

Scenography and devotion for St. Agatha

A story of rebirth

Militello: The story of an enlightened fiefdom

A compromise between Neoclassicism and Baroque

The palace, the town, the church

The two churches

The Monastery of the Benedictine nuns

The casket of austerity under the great dome

The expansion of space and changing reality

A stone garden

The city within the city

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

The Staircase of Angels

The Monte delle Prestanze in the new city layout

Madonna of the Militia: a singular warrior virgin

The articulated interior spaces