Noto
Neas is believed to have been founded by Sican populations, at the time of the fall of Troy, on the Mendola hill. Falling into the hands of the Syracuse conquerors, the town assimilated Hellenic customs and rites, and was raised to the rank of a "gymnasium". Coming under the Roman domination, as a federate city, in the imperial epoch it was declared a Latin "municipium", a singular condition which brought the town considerable privileges, like that of being able to govern itself with its own laws. Conquered by the Arabs, who made it a highly armed stronghold, it took the present name and was the capital of one of the three "valleys" into which they subdivided Sicily. After two centuries of Islamic domination, 1090 Noto negotiated surrender with Roger. The history of Noto has been determined not so much by men as by nature: in 1693 it was destroyed by the eartquake which struck all south-western Sicily. Conceived of like a big theatre without wings, as a big and open, lively and flowing town, Noto returned to life sumptuous and superb, on the side of he Meti hill, on the southern slopes of the Iblei mountains. The architectural vicissitudes of the new town were dominated by the artistic fancy of three architects, Rosario Gagliardi, Vincenzo Sinatra and Paolo Labisi, who succeeded i developing an amazing masterpieci showing architectural unity. These were three different personalities which, though living and working in the provinces, conferred on the town an original impress which goes beyond the rigid Baroque idiom, being enriched with Renaissance, pseudo-Spanish and neo-classical elements and giving life to a fanciful and dreamy style. The triumphal arc, along the main thoroughfare, marks the start of the town. Surmounted by three symbolic sculptures -atower with battlements (power), a dog (fidelity) and a pelican (sacrifice)- the monument was erected during a visit to Noto of Ferdinand II of Borbon, who inaugurated it in 1838. The royal gate was bulit in the typical golden calcareous stone used in the previous century for churches and palaces in the town. The San Francesco dell'Immacolata church rises at the top of an imposing flight of steps at the right of the main thoroughfare. It was built, together with the annexed convent, in 1704-45. The church has a single nave, in accordance with the Franciscan custom. All white, the walls are decorated with rococo-style stuccoes. The Santa Chiara church, by Gagliardi, a delicate Baroque expression, was built in 1785. The interior, small and oval, decorated with stuccoes and putti, has its rhythm marked out by twelve columns, and it is one of the most interesting examples of spatial solutions by this architect. The Santissimo Salvatore Monastery is the biggest edifice in the town, built in 1710-91 onj a rectangular area of 11,000 square metres.On the first floor flat twin pillars frame the big windows, whose rich decoration is reminiscent of the Portuguese plateresque style.There follows a protruding wing which acts as a key in the construction conception; it rises imposingly like a tower over buildings and cupolas around it, and leaves no doubt pared to other orders. This impression is emphasised by the rich stone decoration and the railings in wrought iron. The Santissimo Salvatore church, built at the end of the eighteenth century, rises in a big square. Its particular feature liese in the traces, in the facade, of the transition from Baroque to classicism. The Cathedral, which stands at the top of a monumental staircase, was begun just a few months after the earthquake, but was only completed in 1770. The facade, devoid of ornaments and extravagances, incorporates Baroque motifs and classical elements. The three naves of the church are divided by high pillars with double pilasters. In the chapel at the back of the right nave there is kept the silver ark of the patron saint of the town, San Corrado. Opposite the cathedral there is Palazzo Ducezio, which houses the Town Hall. Designed by the architect Sinatra, the palace, raised with respect to the square in which it stands, was built in 1746-1830 with a single floor. A hundred years ago a second floor was superimposed on it which has damaged the original neo-classical look. Of interest, inside, is the representation room, rich in gilding and stuccoes . Not far away there is Palazzo Villadorata, which looks out on Via Nicolaci, a narrow side street. The broad facade is enlivened by protruding balconies in wrought iron held up by all sorts of ledges, with human and animal figures amid volutes and arabesques, the most extreme manifestation of Noto Baroque. Built in 1731, the palace, which for a long time was the residence of the princes of Villadorata, was recently largely purchased by the town council. In it there are ninety rooms, and in the ceilings there are eighteenth-century frescos. In may in Via Nicolaci there is a traditional flower procession. At the end the street is closed off by the Montevergine church, attributed to the architect Sinatra. On the outside it is concave in shape, closed off between two lateral towers; inside there is only one nave, along which there are Corinthian columns. The Crocifisso church is the second one in the town after the cathedral. It stands in the upper part of Noto, in Piazza Mazzini. Designed by Gagliardi (1715), it is the church richest in works of art. Inside there are two column-bearing lions from the Romanesque epoch, recovered from the ruins of the Crocifisso church in the old town; there is also the white marble statue of the Madonna della Neve done in 1471 by Francesco Laurana