Rebuilt from scratch on a new valley site after the earthquake of 1693, Noto is a complete 18th-century Baroque town carved in honey-coloured local limestone. Its cathedral, palaces and the grotesque carved balconies of Palazzo Villadorata make it one of the most distinctive townscapes in southern Italy.
At a glance
Noto stands in the Val di Noto in the province of Syracuse. It was built after 1693 to replace Noto Antica, an older hilltop town destroyed by an earthquake that devastated much of southeastern Sicily. The new town was laid out on a grid in the valley below, chosen for better protection from earthquakes, easier planning and access to water from the Asinaro river.
The town is built almost entirely from Pietra di Noto, a local calcarenite limestone that can be carved like wood when freshly quarried and hardens on exposure to air, gradually turning a deep honey-gold over time. This gave the Baroque builders scope for unusually elaborate carved decoration, most famously on the Cathedral facade and the balconies of Via Corrado Nicolaci.
Key facts
- Location: Noto, Province of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy
- Rebuilt: on a new valley site following the 1693 earthquake, construction running roughly 1695 to 1780
- Material: Pietra di Noto, a local limestone carved when soft and hardening with age
- Key architect: Rosario Gagliardi, responsible for the Cathedral and several major churches
- UNESCO status: part of the serial World Heritage inscription “Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto (South-Eastern Sicily)”, listed in 2002 under reference 1024, alongside seven other towns including Caltagirone, Modica and Ragusa
History
The earthquake of 1693 destroyed Noto Antica, the town’s original hilltop site, along with dozens of other settlements across southeastern Sicily. The decision to abandon the old site and rebuild in the valley below was contested for around two years between a faction favouring the historic hilltop and one led by the Spanish colonial administrator Don Giuseppe Lanza, who argued for a fresh start on more stable ground. The valley faction prevailed and Noto Antica was formally abandoned in 1695. Its ruins, including the Porta della Montagna and the remains of a Norman castle, still stand northwest of the modern town.
Construction of the new Noto ran from the mid-1690s into the 1780s. The initial grid plan is attributed to the Spanish military engineer Carlos de Grunenbergh, while individual buildings, above all the Cathedral, were designed chiefly by Rosario Gagliardi, whose facades show a mastery of curved, sculptural movement. The Cathedral’s design began under Agostino Cassone in 1693 and went through several revisions before Gagliardi completed the present facade between 1740 and 1770. The civic Palazzo Ducezio, with its more restrained colonnaded front, was designed by Vincenzo Sinatra and completed in 1746.
The Cathedral’s dome collapsed in March 1996 after centuries of structural decay compounded by earlier earthquake damage, destroying the dome, the right transept and part of the nave roof. It was restored with reinforced concrete framing concealed within the original limestone shell, a solution driven partly by the pressure to have the building ready ahead of the UNESCO inscription that followed in 2002.
What you see
Visitors typically enter Noto through the Porta Reale, a neoclassical triumphal arch of 1838 marking the eastern end of the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, the town’s main axis. The Corso runs the length of the historic centre and is lined with Baroque churches and palaces built in the same golden limestone.
The Cathedral of San Nicolò dominates the Piazza Municipio with its three-tiered facade, rebuilt after the 1996 collapse. Nearby, Via Corrado Nicolaci runs north from the piazza and is best known for the balconies of Palazzo Villadorata, built for the Nicolaci family between 1737 and 1763. Each of the eighteen balconies on the main floor is supported by a different carved stone corbel in the form of a grotesque hybrid creature, including a winged horse-centaur, a mermaid and various lion and bird figures, carved while the stone was still soft enough to render fine anatomical detail.
Practical information
- Getting oriented: the historic centre is compact and best explored on foot, starting from the Porta Reale and the Corso Vittorio Emanuele
- Noto Antica: the ruins of the original hilltop town lie to the northwest and are reachable as a separate excursion, popular with walkers
- Opening times and access: for current visiting arrangements at the Cathedral and Palazzo Villadorata, consult the town’s official tourism channels directly
Getting there
Noto lies in the province of Syracuse and is commonly reached by bus from Syracuse, arriving at Piazza Marconi at the eastern end of the Corso.
Nearby
- Noto Antica — around 10 km northwest, the abandoned hilltop site destroyed in 1693, with surviving remains including the Porta della Montagna and a Norman castle
- Syracuse — reachable by bus, the main transport link to Noto
- Other Val di Noto towns — Modica, Ragusa, Scicli, Caltagirone, Militello in Val di Catania, Catania and Palazzolo Acreide share the same Baroque rebuilding and UNESCO serial listing
Sources
- UNESCO
Find it on the map
See this place and what’s around it →Historical events at this place (1)
- 2022 Ar(t)mistizi
📷 Become a Cultural Heritage Online photographer
Share your photos of places: they stay published under your name as the author. The more they're seen, the more you get noticed — and soon a contest will reward the most appreciated photos.
Log in or sign up free to add a photo