Current Time in Noto, Italy

Noto is a small baroque city in the southeastern corner of Sicily, Italy, with a population of approximately 24,000, situated in the Province of Syracuse on gentle hills overlooking the Noto Valley. It is celebrated as one of the finest examples of Baroque urban planning and architecture in the world, and its historic center was inscribed as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto in 2002 — a serial property encompassing eight towns of the Sicilian southeast that were completely rebuilt after the catastrophic earthquake of January 11, 1693. Among all these towns, Noto is regarded as the queen, for the ambition, coherence, and beauty of its reconstruction.

The earthquake of 1693 was one of the most devastating natural disasters in European history, killing between 60,000 and 100,000 people and destroying virtually every town in southeastern Sicily. The ancient city of Noto Antica, built on a rocky plateau some 10 kilometers from the present site, was so completely ruined that the decision was made to abandon the old site and rebuild entirely on a new location — the gentle slope of the Meti hill, offering better terrain and a more defensible position. Under the oversight of the Duke of Camastra and the architect Rosario Gagliardi among others, the new city was laid out with a main longitudinal axis — the Corso Vittorio Emanuele — bisected by cross streets and articulated by a series of piazzas and civic monuments in a comprehensive act of urban design on a scale rarely attempted in history.

The Corso Vittorio Emanuele is lined on both sides with an almost unbroken succession of Baroque palaces and churches built in the warm honey-gold local limestone that gives Noto its characteristic appearance and the nickname Baroque City of Stone. The main piazza, Piazza del Municipio, opens dramatically onto three of Noto's greatest monuments: the Cathedral of San Nicolò, a luminous facade of extraordinary elegance reconstructed in the twentieth century after its dome collapsed in 1996; the Palazzo Ducezio, the town hall, whose curved neoclassical facade facing the cathedral creates one of the most beautiful civic spaces in southern Italy; and the Church of San Francesco all'Immacolata, whose broad staircase sweeps down to the Corso. The Via Corrado Nicolaci, climbing steeply from the main corso, is lined with palaces whose balconies are supported by extraordinary sculptural brackets depicting lions, griffins, horses, and baroque figures, and it is covered each spring with an elaborate carpet of flowers for the Infiorata di Noto festival.

The Infiorata di Noto, held annually in May, is one of Sicily's most spectacular festivals. Hundreds of volunteers spend two days creating an elaborate pictorial carpet of flower petals covering the entire length of the Via Nicolaci — a tradition established in 1980 that has grown into a major cultural event drawing visitors from across Sicily and beyond. The images represented in the flower carpet change each year according to a chosen theme.

Noto's relationship with food is characteristically Sicilian: almond granita, fried arancini, fresh ricotta cannoli, and the local mandarin oranges and capers from the surrounding countryside are central to the local food culture. The Caffè Sicilia, an institution on the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, is celebrated throughout Italy for its artisanal granitas and ice creams. The surrounding Noto Valley (Val di Noto) is an important agricultural area producing olive oil, almonds, carob, and the distinctive Pachino tomatoes with their intense flavor.

Noto is accessible by rail from Syracuse (approximately 30 minutes) and is well served by road. It is within easy reach of the important archaeological sites of the Syracuse region, including the Greek theatre and quarries, the Villa Romana del Casale near Piazza Armerina, and the beautiful baroque towns of Ragusa and Modica nearby. The nearest airports are Catania-Fontanarossa and Comiso.

Noto is a city that was born of catastrophe and rebuilt as an act of collective ambition and artistic faith. Its golden Baroque streets, fragrant with almond blossom in spring, warm with the smell of sun-baked stone in summer, represent one of the most coherent and beautiful urban achievements of the European eighteenth century.