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.

Discovering the mother church

Two illustrious patron saints

The disastrous earthquake

The Staircase of Angels

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

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

Connections with other UNESCO sites

The interior and its masterpieces

One city, three sites

The Maiolica of the staircase

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

Prominent façade

A talking palace

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A square as the heart of the city

Between white and black

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Many owners, one palace

A majestic and luminous church

A prominent church

The wall comes to life

Feasting in Palazzolo

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

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

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

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The chocolate of Modica

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

Some prestigious works

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The theatre of taste

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

Wonderful quick decorations

The city of museums

A new site for a new church

A colourful floor

A long reconstruction

A small room with a golden entrance

The Burgos crucifix

The colours of the cathedral

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

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

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Some masterpieces

Searching for colour

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

A Nobel Prize in Modica

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

Norman apses

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The Baroque town by the sea

A half-Baroque church

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

A miniature city

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

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

A symbol for the town

From International Gothic to present day

Feast days

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

One city, two sites

A triumph of colour

The internal colours

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

A hall for the feasts

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

An eagle-shaped city

Modica, a city with ancient origins

New roads for Catania

A museum to save a tradition

A city in colour

The church of Carmine

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

A feast only for Scicli

The two churches

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A new site for a new city

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers