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.

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Some prestigious works

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A triumph of colour

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

The two churches

A new site for a new city

Norman apses

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The church of Carmine

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

A miniature city

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

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

The Baroque town by the sea

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The Burgos crucifix

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A museum to save a tradition

An eagle-shaped city

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

The Staircase of Angels

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The interior and its masterpieces

The city of museums

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

A half-Baroque church

The theatre of taste

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

The internal colours

The colours of the cathedral

A square as the heart of the city

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

One city, two sites

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

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The chocolate of Modica

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A majestic and luminous church

Two illustrious patron saints

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

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

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

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

Many owners, one palace

Searching for colour

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A small room with a golden entrance

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

Discovering the mother church

Wonderful quick decorations

A hall for the feasts

The wall comes to life

A prominent church

Between white and black

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

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

Prominent façade

A long reconstruction

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

A talking palace

A symbol for the town

New roads for Catania

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

One city, three sites

Feast days

A city in colour

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

From International Gothic to present day

Some masterpieces

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

A feast only for Scicli

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The Maiolica of the staircase

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Feasting in Palazzolo

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A colourful floor

The disastrous earthquake

A new site for a new church

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

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