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.

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Between white and black

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

A talking palace

Norman apses

An eagle-shaped city

A colourful floor

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

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A square as the heart of the city

The theatre of taste

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

A prominent church

Some masterpieces

A small room with a golden entrance

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

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

A new site for a new city

A miniature city

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

The Baroque town by the sea

Many owners, one palace

A half-Baroque church

The Maiolica of the staircase

Wonderful quick decorations

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

A triumph of colour

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

The Burgos crucifix

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

The wall comes to life

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

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

The church of Carmine

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

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

A new site for a new church

The two churches

The colours of the cathedral

Discovering the mother church

The façade used as a puppet theatre

A Nobel Prize in Modica

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

The internal colours

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

From International Gothic to present day

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

Two illustrious patron saints

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

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

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

A museum to save a tradition

One city, three sites

Prominent façade

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

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

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

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The Staircase of Angels

Some prestigious works

Connections with other UNESCO sites

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

One city, two sites

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

The interior and its masterpieces

A city in colour

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

A feast only for Scicli

The city of museums

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

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

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

A symbol for the town

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

Feast days

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

St. Sebastian, so much work!

Searching for colour

New roads for Catania

A long reconstruction

The chocolate of Modica

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

A majestic and luminous church

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

Limestone, the colour of harmony

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A hall for the feasts

The disastrous earthquake

Feasting in Palazzolo

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction