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.

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The interior and its masterpieces

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

A triumph of colour

Modica, a city with ancient origins

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

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

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The Burgos crucifix

The city of museums

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Some masterpieces

The internal colours

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

Connections with other UNESCO sites

Norman apses

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

The chocolate of Modica

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

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

A feast only for Scicli

Wonderful quick decorations

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

Two illustrious patron saints

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

A new site for a new church

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

New roads for Catania

Some prestigious works

A majestic and luminous church

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

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

The Staircase of Angels

The wall comes to life

A symbol for the town

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

A museum to save a tradition

The church of Carmine

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

One city, three sites

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

Between white and black

The disastrous earthquake

An eagle-shaped city

Prominent façade

Discovering the mother church

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

A talking palace

Searching for colour

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A city in colour

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

A long reconstruction

Feast days

Many owners, one palace

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

From International Gothic to present day

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

A small room with a golden entrance

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

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

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

A hall for the feasts

A prominent church

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

A colourful floor

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The Maiolica of the staircase

Feasting in Palazzolo

The colours of the cathedral

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

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

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

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A miniature city

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

A Nobel Prize in Modica

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

One city, two sites

A half-Baroque church

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The two churches

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

St. Sebastian, so much work!

A new site for a new city

The Baroque town by the sea

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

The theatre of taste

A square as the heart of the city

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca