Noto

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

hearing
The voices of the Infiorata festival

If we lived in Palazzo Nicolaci and were in one of the rooms overlooking Via Corrado Nicolaci, on the third Sunday in May we would hear voices in the street.
On this day, the Saluto alla Primavera (Greeting to Spring) is celebrated, also known as the Infiorata, which attracts many people to Noto.
Every year, depending on the theme, sixteen pictures are created with petals and the street is filled with voices.
You would hear comments about the pictures, the clicking of cameras, children running up and down the street and people greeting one another for the occasion.

sight
The journey of the Sun

The hall of feasts, or yellow room, hosted banquets and social events to which all the nobles of the surrounding area were invited.
Our attention is drawn to the room’s ceiling fresco, where Apollo is depicted driving the chariot of the Sun.
In this representation the sun takes the same exact path that it takes over the city of Noto.
No detail was left to chance! The Sun, the light, that which illuminates and gives life was painted as faithfully as in reality.

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The colours of the cathedral

One city, three sites

The chocolate of Modica

The interior and its masterpieces

New roads for Catania

An eagle-shaped city

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The Staircase of Angels

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The two churches

A small room with a golden entrance

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Many owners, one palace

Two illustrious patron saints

A triumph of colour

The theatre of taste

A hall for the feasts

Some masterpieces

A prominent church

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The internal colours

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The Baroque town by the sea

Modica, a city with ancient origins

A city in colour

The Burgos crucifix

The Maiolica of the staircase

A symbol for the town

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

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

The church of Carmine

A new site for a new city

One city, two sites

A new site for a new church

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

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

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A museum to save a tradition

St. Sebastian, so much work!

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

A square as the heart of the city

Between white and black

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Connections with other UNESCO sites

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

The city of museums

Wonderful quick decorations

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

From International Gothic to present day

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A majestic and luminous church

Discovering the mother church

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

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

The wall comes to life

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A half-Baroque church

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

Feasting in Palazzolo

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

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

Prominent façade

Some prestigious works

A long reconstruction

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

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

A feast only for Scicli

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

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

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Norman apses

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A colourful floor

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

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

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The façade used as a puppet theatre

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A talking palace

The disastrous earthquake

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

A miniature city

Feast days

Searching for colour