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 theatre of taste

Searching for colour

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Many owners, one palace

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

An eagle-shaped city

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Connections with other UNESCO sites

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

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

A talking palace

A square as the heart of the city

A new site for a new city

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The Maiolica of the staircase

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A triumph of colour

Feasting in Palazzolo

The church of Carmine

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

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

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

A hall for the feasts

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The disastrous earthquake

Prominent façade

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A museum to save a tradition

The city of museums

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

One city, two sites

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

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

A majestic and luminous church

A prominent church

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

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

A half-Baroque church

A long reconstruction

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

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Between white and black

The wall comes to life

A city in colour

One city, three sites

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Discovering the mother church

A feast only for Scicli

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

A new site for a new church

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

The Burgos crucifix

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

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

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The façade used as a puppet theatre

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

The Staircase of Angels

The internal colours

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

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Norman apses

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A miniature city

The chocolate of Modica

New roads for Catania

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

The two churches

The Baroque town by the sea

The interior and its masterpieces

A small room with a golden entrance

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

Two illustrious patron saints

From International Gothic to present day

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

Some masterpieces

The colours of the cathedral

Some prestigious works

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

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Feast days

Wonderful quick decorations

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

A colourful floor

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

A symbol for the town