Noto

Updated: Sep 15

'Not-old' Baroque town with Arab-Norman churches - Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto (South-Eastern Sicily) 1024

What and Why

Noto is a very tiny town but is unexpectedly gorgeous. One of the most photogenic places during this trip.

Similar to other Sicilian cities, Noto was occupied by the Arabs in the 9th century CE and then in late 11th century CE, it became the last Islamic stronghold in Sicily (Italian : Sicilia) to fall to the Christians. Later it prospered to become a rich Norman city. However these traces were not as apparent as in Palermo as a huge earthquake partly wiped out the city. The current more Baroque form of the city, was rebuilt in mid-18th century CE and planned on a grid system by to make the new Noto a masterpiece of Sicilian Baroque, dubbed the 'stone garden (giardino di pietra)' and hence elevated itself to UNESCO WHS status. So while the city carries history, it is really not that old.

By the way this WHS includes other cities like Caltagirone, Militello Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Palazzolo, Ragusa and Scicli. These historic centres and urban environments reflect the great, post-seismic rebuilding achievement of the decades following the catastrophic earthquake of late 17th century CE, which ravaged towns across south-eastern Sicily.

Toponymy

'Noto' derives its name from Phoenician 'neve eten' which eventually became 'Netum' in Latin, meaning 'high city' as it is located on a small mountain.

See

Everything is along the Corso Vittorio Emanuele which is only 1 km end-to-end.

Royal Gate (Porto Reale)

Entrance to Noto. Outside the gate there is a large bazaar selling food and drinks.

Noto Cathedral (Chiesa Madre di San Nicolò)

The main landmark of Noto, the classy Noto Cathedral's (Chiesa Madre di San Nicolò) dome collapsed in 1996 CE as a result of structural weakening caused by an earthquake in 1990 CE, and was reopened only in 2007 CE.

The long interval between the beginning to its completion in the mid-18th century CE probably accounts for various peculiarities and inconsistencies of design, and the introduction of neo-classical elements. Moreover, the principal doorways are revivals of 15th-century CE architecture. An absolutely stunning photospot.

Town Hall (Palazzo Ducezio)

The Town Hall (Palazzo Ducezio) is a neo-classical palace now converted to a town-hall. Its name is after Ducetius (Greek: Δουκέτιος, Douketios) who was the Greek leader who unified Sicily.

Via Nicolaci Infiorata

We did not encounter this occasion but every year during the third Sunday of May, Via Nicolaci Infiorata will be blanketed with flowers.

Saint Dominic's Church (Chiesa di San Domenico)

A baroque church, Saint Dominic's church (Chiesa di San Domenico) is located near the end of the street.

Buy and Do

Moor heads (Teste di moro)

One souvenir that would caught everyone's eyes in Sicily must be the small Muslim head vase, or Moor heads (teste di moro). The legend of the Moorish head goes back in the 11th century CE, during the Moors domination in Sicily and as in most stories, is once again Cupid’s (Latin: Cupīdō) fault. Cupid literally means 'desire' in Latin.

One day a beautiful young girl living in the Arabic district of Palermo was taking care of her plants and flowers in the balcony of her house. Suddenly a Moor merchant passed by and they started having a love story until she discovered he already had a wife and children waiting for him in his home country of Morocco (Berber: ⵜⴰⴳⵍⵉⴷⵜ ⵏ ⴰⵎⵓⵔⴰⴽⵓⵛ). She went suddenly hysterical due to jealousy and one night, while he was sleeping she cut off his head and decided to use it as a vase to grow her beautiful plants. People walking down her balcony started looking at her flourishing plant and envied how bloomed her plants were, so they began to forge colourful clay heads pots wishing to have the same magic! A gruesome story behind a beautiful souvenir found everywhere in Sicily!

Along the road, as expected there are shops and souvenirs aplenty. Outside the Royal Gate, there is a good line of bazaar selling very fresh fruit juices and various local confectioneries including marmelades, jams, honeys and biscotti.

Eat and Drink

Pasta

We ate at Casale Milocca where we stayed for a pasta dinner. As mentioned in my Palermo blog, pasta originates from Sicily, dating back to the 13th century CE. There is no conclusive evidence of the origin of pasta, ranging from various anecdotes from Greece (Greek: Ελλάδα, Elláda), Africa, China (Chinese: 中国, Zhōngguó) and of course Italy (Italia). One thing is now certain, pasta does not come to Italy from China. It turns out that this 'legend' of Marco Polo importing pasta from China originate with the Macaroni Journal, published by an association of food industries with the goal of promoting pasta in America. It is now believed the Marco Polo story originated during the 1920s or 30s CE in a fake advertisement for a Canadian spaghetti company. Clearly there are forms of pasta in various part of the world in history, but Italy does make it great. By the way, pasta is a latinisation of the Greek word 'παστά (pasta)' meaning 'barley mash'.

As everyone probably know, pasta is just unleavened dough of semolina, egg, water and moulded into different shapes and forms. An Italian told me that there are over 400 known pasta and one can go through a year without repeating! Pastas are divided into two broad categories: dried (pasta secca) and fresh (pasta fresca), and further into three kinds of prepared dishes: as pastasciutta, meaning cooked pasta served with a complementary side sauce (spaghetti bolognese); pasta in brodo, in which the pasta is part of a soup-type dish (Hong Kong-style macaroni in soup) and a third category is pasta al forno, in which the pasta is incorporated into a dish that is subsequently baked in the oven (lasagna).