A Baroque walk through Noto: cathedral, Corso and Palazzo Nicolaci

What it is

Noto is the most harmonious city of the Sicilian Baroque because it was built all at once. After the 1693 earthquake it was not rebuilt over its ruins but on a new slope, about 8 km from the old one, with a grid layout planned from scratch and all the limestone of the same tone. That is why it works like a stage set: straight streets, flights of steps, churches that close the vistas and palaces with balconies on carved corbels. It is one of the eight cities of the Val di Noto declared World Heritage Sites in 2002.

This walk brings together the essentials in about three hours on foot, with a paid visit at the Palazzo Nicolaci.

The route

The Corso. The axis of the city is Corso Vittorio Emanuele, which crosses the centre from east to west. Walk it from end to end without hurrying: on either side squares with churches and flights of steps open up, and the streets that rise and fall let you see the city in terraces.

The cathedral of San Nicolò. It is the great stage of the Corso, at the top of a broad staircase facing the town hall. In 1996 the dome and part of the nave collapsed, and the cathedral has been rebuilt. Climb the steps: from the top you have the best view of the Corso. It is a church in use, so respect the hours of worship.

Via Nicolaci and its palace. Turn into Via Corrado Nicolaci, which climbs from the Corso. It is the street of the balconies of the Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, with corbels of fantastic figures, grotesques and animals: masks, cherubs, beasts. The palace was designed by Rosario Gagliardi and built between 1720 and 1765 as the residence of the Nicolaci family; it has 90 rooms. You visit the neoclassical stucco staircase that climbs to the piano nobile, the tea room with oriental motifs and the ballroom, with trompe l'oeil and a ceiling showing Apollo's chariot chasing Aurora. In the same building is the municipal library, founded in 1817, with thousands of books, Latin and Spanish manuscripts and a gallery of portraits of illustrious people of Noto.

In May, Via Nicolaci is covered with the Infiorata, pictures made of flower petals.

Hours and price

Palazzo Nicolaci is open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 19:00, and on Sunday from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 14:30 to 18:00, according to Italy's official tourism portal. Admission is paid, but we have not found an official published fee: ask at the ticket office. The streets and the cathedral staircase can be walked whenever you like.

Getting there and parking

From Catania, by car, take the motorway towards Syracuse and then the one continuing towards Gela, exiting at Noto. Park outside the old town, in the surrounding streets, and go in on foot: the centre has limited-traffic streets. By train, Noto is on the Syracuse to Ragusa line.

With children

It is a flat walk along the Corso, with steps if you climb to the cathedral. Children usually like the monsters on the balconies of Via Nicolaci: give them the task of counting how many different animals they find. For a break, a granita at the Caffè Sicilia, on the same Corso.