Noto quickly made it onto my wish-list of places in Sicily when I was planning our visit to the island and it did not disappoint me. It revealed a wonderful baroque historical center with huge buildings, mostly churches and palaces, in a honey-peach color. In addition, we happened upon a medieval reenactment event, which made our experience even more vivid and memorable.
In this article I will tell you about the most interesting things to do in Noto.
How to get there
The city of Noto is located on the island of Sicily, 92 km south of Catania and 290 km southeast of Palermo. It can be reached by car, bus or train.
Where we parked
We had a rental car and parked just before the old town next to a beautiful park – Villa Comunale Noto. Here are the coordinates of the parking lot.
It falls in a blue zone. During our visit the price for parking was 1 euro per hour.
Noto in brief
In ancient times, the city was known as Netum. In Roman times, Netum enjoyed the rights of a federal city. In 866, the Muslims conquered the city and called it Nautis, elevating it to the capital of one of the three administrative regions into which they divided Sicily, Val di Noto. After two centuries of Muslim rule, the city came under Norman influence.
The medieval city of Noto was practically destroyed by the Sicilian earthquake of 1693. The city was then rebuilt from scratch, sumptuous and magnificent, with homogeneous and symmetrical architecture in the Sicilian Baroque style. The architects used golden stone from local quarries, which changes color during the day depending on the light – from copper in the morning to rose-gold in the evening. Noto owes its current fame to this unique architecture. Because of it, the city has earned several nicknames:
- the baroque capital of Sicily;
- a city of light;
- the Stone Garden (Giardino di Pietra) – as the locals call it, because of the light and the harmony between architecture and nature.
In June 2002, UNESCO inscribed 8 towns from Val di Noto on the World Heritage List as “representing the culmination and final flowering of Baroque art in Europe”. These towns are Caltagirone, Militello in Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa and Scicli.
The most famous event in the town is the “Infiorata di Noto” – a flower festival, which takes place every year in May. The main street is covered with huge carpets of flower petals, forming paintings. Each year the theme of the festival is different – from mythology to current events and cultures from around the world.
Sicilian Baroque
The Sicilian Baroque style emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries during a great reconstruction boom after the massive, devastating earthquake of 1693 that struck the eastern part of the island. At that time, Sicily was part of the Spanish Empire. The style includes the typical Baroque curves and ornaments, but is distinguished by the smiling masks and rich decoration that give Sicily its unique architectural identity.
Things to do in Noto
The main attractions in Noto are located along or very close to the central street of the historic center, Corso Vittorio Emanuele.
From the parking lot I mentioned above, it is only a 5-minute walk to the beginning of the historic center. The presentation of the places below is in sequential order, starting from Porta Reale.
Royal Gate (Porta Reale)
This is the entrance to the old town. From here begins Via Vittorio Emanuele. Once you step through the gate, it’s like you’re in a completely different world – from modern times to the Middle Ages. In our case, this feeling was multiplied many times over, thanks to an event we happened to stumble upon. A procession of men and women dressed in medieval clothes was just setting off towards the town hall. Many of them were carrying a chess piece attached to a pole. A little later, we witnessed a game of chess with live chess pieces.
Square of the Immaculate Conception and Church of St. Francis (Piazza Immacolata, Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi all’Immacolata)
This is the first square after the Royal Gate. There is a fountain of the same name on it, and the stairs on one side of the square lead to the 11th-century church of San Francesco.
Palazzo Ducezio
This is the beautiful building on the next square, standing to the left of Via Vittorio Emanuele. It houses the town hall. It was built between 1746 and 1830 on one floor. The second floor was only added in 1951.
It was in Piazza Ducezio in front of the town hall that the interesting chess game I mentioned above took place, preceded by solemn speeches.
Cathedral of Saint Nicolò ((Cattedrale di San Nicolò)
It is located opposite the town hall, and is also reached by a staircase. Its construction began immediately after the earthquake in 1693, but it was not completed until 1770.
Palazzo Nicolaci
It is located on Via Corrado Nicolaci, which is the street on the right just after the cathedral. The palace includes over 90 rooms and was the city residence of the noble Nicolaci family. Its construction began in 1720 and was completed in 1765.
Nicolaci Street ends with a church (Chiesa di Montevergine) with a beautiful concave facade.
Church of San Carlo al Corso (Chiesa di San Carlo al Corso)
The church is located on the left of the main street, just on the corner where Via Nicolaci branches off. It is the former residence of the Jesuits of Noto. In addition to exploring the church from the outside and inside, you can climb to the roof, where its bell tower is located, and enjoy the stunning views from there.
The ticket for this little adventure cost us 3 euros per person. Keep in mind, however, that the staircase in the bell tower is winding and extremely narrow and would probably be very uncomfortable for some people.
Piazza XVI Maggio and Church of San Domenico (Piazza XVI Maggio, Chiesa di San Domenico)
The next square along the main street is Piazza XVI Maggio. To the right of it stands the church of San Domenico, built between 1703 and 1727. Right in front of it is the Fountain of Hercules (Fontana d’Ercole). It was dry, unfortunately, during our visit.
On the other side of the square stands the building of the Tina di Lorenzo Theater (Teatro Comunale Tina di Lorenzo).
Our visit to Noto
We visited Noto on the second day of our trip to Sicily. Before that, we spent a few hours exploring Syracuse. After the many interesting places we saw there, overwhelmed with impressions, I thought we would quickly pass through Noto. How wrong I was! Noto caught my eye from afar with its honey-peach-colored buildings. We parked and walked towards Porta Reale. And there a huge surprise awaited us – many people in medieval clothes were just getting ready to set off on a procession, along a medieval street and among medieval buildings. We found ourselves spectators of a wonderful performance without having planned it.
We walked along the main street, following the people, stopping to look at the interesting buildings in the historic center. We caught up with the procession at the city hall, where we witnessed an interesting ceremony and a medieval reenactment.
Subsequently, it was very difficult for me to find any information about this event, because it is not listed either on the municipality’s website or on social networks. So I decided to follow the rule “where it flows, it has probably flowed before” – my slightly inverted processing of the more popular “where it has flowed, it will flow again”. That’s how I came across a FB post from the beginning of last October, inviting for a similar event. That’s how I found out that this is an event under the title “Chess in the Noto Region” (Gli Scacchi in Val di Noto). It starts with a procession from Porta Reale to Piazza Ducezio, where two games are played with live chess pieces dressed in 18th century costumes. The event was taking place for the fourth time.
Then we visited the other places I told you about above.
Final thoughts
Noto was one of the places in Sicily that I definitely wanted to see and my expectations were fully met, even more. The city immersed me in its fairytale atmosphere with its impressive historic center with majestic baroque churches and palaces in a warm honey-peach hue. The encounter with the medieval reconstruction was an unexpected gift that made my experience even more exciting.
In this article I tried to walk you through the most interesting sights of this baroque jewel of Sicily.
