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.

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A new site for a new city

A hall for the feasts

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

An eagle-shaped city

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The internal colours

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

A triumph of colour

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

One city, three sites

The Baroque town by the sea

A prominent church

Prominent façade

Between white and black

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The wall comes to life

Two illustrious patron saints

A Nobel Prize in Modica

One city, two sites

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Norman apses

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

The Burgos crucifix

The Staircase of Angels

The chocolate of Modica

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A symbol for the town

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A small room with a golden entrance

The theatre of taste

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Many owners, one palace

A talking palace

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A majestic and luminous church

Some prestigious works

A long reconstruction

Some masterpieces

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

New roads for Catania

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

A feast only for Scicli

Limestone, the colour of harmony

A miniature city

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

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

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Wonderful quick decorations

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

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

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

The colours of the cathedral

Discovering the mother church

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

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

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A square as the heart of the city

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

Searching for colour

From International Gothic to present day

A half-Baroque church

Feast days

A city in colour

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

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

Feasting in Palazzolo

The interior and its masterpieces

A new site for a new church

The disastrous earthquake

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The two churches

The city of museums

The church of Carmine

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

The Maiolica of the staircase

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

A colourful floor

A museum to save a tradition

The façade used as a puppet theatre

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom