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.

Feasting in Palazzolo

Two illustrious patron saints

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

From International Gothic to present day

New roads for Catania

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

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

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

An eagle-shaped city

The chocolate of Modica

The city of museums

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Searching for colour

A talking palace

Wonderful quick decorations

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

The colours of the cathedral

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

Prominent façade

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The wall comes to life

A new site for a new church

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

Feast days

A prominent church

A majestic and luminous church

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

Modica, a city with ancient origins

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

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

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

The Staircase of Angels

The Baroque town by the sea

A colourful floor

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A symbol for the town

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

One city, two sites

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

One city, three sites

The two churches

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

The internal colours

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Between white and black

The interior and its masterpieces

Many owners, one palace

The Maiolica of the staircase

A city in colour

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The disastrous earthquake

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The church of Carmine

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A museum to save a tradition

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The theatre of taste

A hall for the feasts

A triumph of colour

A miniature city

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The Burgos crucifix

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

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

A new site for a new city

A long reconstruction

Some masterpieces

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Discovering the mother church

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

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

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

Some prestigious works

A square as the heart of the city

Norman apses

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

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

A half-Baroque church

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A small room with a golden entrance

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