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.

A hall for the feasts

A museum to save a tradition

The city of museums

The senses tell the story of the church of San Giuseppe

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

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

A feast only for Scicli

Two illustrious patron saints

The senses tell about Palazzo Nicolaci

The Feast of San Giacomo (St. James)

Searching for colour

The Burgos crucifix

The Baroque town by the sea

Garden of Novices and the restorations by Giancarlo De Carlo

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

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

A new palace for the La Rocca lords

Feasting in Palazzolo

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Sebastiano

Militello, the story of an enlightened fiefdom

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

A new site for a new city

A long reconstruction

The Staircase of Angels

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

A new site for a new church

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

From International Gothic to present day

Baroque and the loss of equilibrium in the 16th century

The senses tell the story of the Church of the Annunciation

A prominent church

The senses tell the Cathedral of Sant’Agata

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

Modica, a city with ancient origins

The Maiolica of the staircase

A triumph of colour

Wonderful quick decorations

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

A small room with a golden entrance

The colours of the cathedral

The senses tell about Palazzo Napolino Tommasi Rosso

A new entrance for Santa Chiara (St. Claire)

The Supernatural dimension of the chapel of the Santissimo Sacramento

One city, two sites

One city, three sites

The façade used as a puppet theatre

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A miniature city

Corbels: a celebration of the Nicolaci family

Many owners, one palace

The disastrous earthquake

San Nicolò l’Arena: an unfinished church

Between white and black

Some masterpieces

The chocolate of Modica

The senses tell about Palazzo La Rocca

A Nobel Prize in Modica

A talking palace

Limestone, the colour of harmony

The senses tell the story of the Church of San Benedetto

Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, who is the architect?

St. Sebastian, so much work!

The Benedictine Monastery, one of the largest in Europe

The kitchen, a treasure chest of colours

Places of knowledge: the Benedictines’ library

From St. Thomas to St. Joseph

The interior and its masterpieces

A half-Baroque church

The wall comes to life

The theatre of taste

New roads for Catania

The senses tell the story of the Church of Santa Chiara

A colourful floor

Rosario Gagliardi, the maestro of the Val di Noto

Norman apses

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

Connections with other UNESCO sites

St. Agatha and the giant candelabras

A city in colour

Fontana della Ninfa Zizza, public water in the town

Prominent façade

A majestic and luminous church

The character of Badia Sant’Agata

The Infiorata, a feast of colours and flowers

The internal colours

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

The cathedral of Sant’Agata: a lengthy reconstruction

A square as the heart of the city

The two churches

The Barresi-Branciforte lords

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

A symbol for the town

A design by Vincenzo Sinatra

An eagle-shaped city

Some prestigious works

San Benedetto: a treasure reopened to the public

The church of Carmine

Discovering the mother church

Feast days