Val di Noto

Val di Noto
The Noto Valley, located in south-eastern Sicily, owes its place on the World Heritage List to a tragic event in its history. On January the 9th 1693, a major earthquake struck this part of the world. Tenthousands of people died, and cities and towns were (partly) destructed.

After this catastrophe, large public projects were started to rebuild the affected cities. The fashionable architectural style of the period was used, Baroque, together with ‘anti-seismic’ urban planning.

The 8 places that are included as ‘Val di Noto’ are:
- Caltagirone
- Catania
- Militello
- Modica
- Noto
- Palazzolo
- Ragusa
- Scicli


Year Decision Comments
2002 Inscribed Reasons for inscription



Visit April 2006

The first days of my stay in Sicily I spent in the town of Noto. Its main street, the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, is lined with wonderful baroque palaces and public buildings: the ideal surroundings for an Italian evening stroll. The San Nicoló Cathedral unfortunately is hidden under scaffoldings at the moment, but there are plenty of other monuments to admire. The Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata was the highlight for me: its balconies are ornamented with cherubs, lions and horses, all very fine in detail. A great spot to try out my new camera!

Using a rental car, it’s very easy to visit some of the other towns around Noto. I drove to Modica, Ragusa and Scicli on Easter Monday.
Modica is an elegant town with probably the best baroque church of the valley. There are amazing views. Ragusa is very different: all hills and steps. The main church (Duomo di San Giorgio) currently is also being renovated like the one in Noto.
Scicli finally is way off the beaten track, a huge block of houses in the middle of nowhere that looked completely desolate.

ICOMOS compares the Val di Noto to Mdina and Valetta on Malta. Also tainted by the same earthquake (though to a lesser degree), the same Arab influences and the elaborate balconies are there. The Valley is a good place to base yourself for a few days, and enjoy the high quality architecture, the relaxed atmosphere and (as always in Italy) the food.

More photos can be found in the Picture Gallery

Reviews

Ian Cade (England):
I spent a morning in the town of Noto, and enjoyed strolling along Corso Vittorio Emanuele, sitting in café’s and taking in the great façade’s. There was still a lot of restoration going on when we visited and there was no access to the Duomo, however the façade was viewable when we first turned up as the hoardings covering it were taken down, and it did look very impressive.
As with Els we were very impressed with the Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata and its great balconies. The whole of this bloc of the town was had speakers playing soft rock (Michael Bolton) it was not really noticeable when we first turned up but became a little irritating after a while. The street leading up the hill next to the Palazzo was being prepared to host decorative flowerbeds so it would be lovely to see this all in bloom in the summer.
I really enjoyed our time here, and the architecture was very impressive and displayed many of the key characteristics of Sicilian Baroque. I had hoped to see a few more of the town however a delayed ferry stopped us from getting to these. I feel that I can claim this as a visited site, mostly based on intent.
Noto was a really lovely place to spend a few hours, and the architecture was very impressive, but unfortunately under extensive restoration. Still it was great place to wonder around and fuelled by the excellent coffee and ice cream.
 


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