noto the capital of baroque

the capital of baroque

Noto is a small town in the province of Siracusa, considered the capital of the Barocco. Barocco is an architectural and artistic movement started in Rome at the beginning of the XVII century and moved to Sicily a few years later. The Barocco architectural style is characterized by plenty of decorations, rounded shapes and very dramatic effects. This is especially true in Sicily where the Barocco has reflected the warm personality of its people.

The reason why Noto is considered the perfect Barocco city is because of its complete reconstruction after the earthquake of 1693. Noto was already an important city during the Greek, Roman and especially the Arabic occupation of the island. It also had an important role during the later occupations of the Normans and Spaniards. This ancient city was situated at about 10km away from where it is today. After the big earthquake of 1693 it was decided to abandon the old Noto, which can still be visited, but no proper turistic assistance is provided. The new city was then engineered according to the Barocco style of that time, with the streets, squares, churches and palaces all build in harmony, with the same material, so much that the city could be seen as a unique monument.

One aspect that has made Noto, and the Barocco in Sicily so different than the one in the rest of Italy, is the abundance and extreme wealth of the nobles (it is calculated that in Sicily in XVIII century there was the highest concentration of nobles per square meters of the world). The nobles were sharing their wealth with the church and saw the reconstruction period after the earthquake as a great opportunity to abandon the old medieval structures and show off their wealth with new magnificent buildings and churches.

The new Noto was established on a hill and designed in a way that the noble and rich families had their palaces on the higher side of the hill, where the air is fresher, and the poor people at the bottom of the hill or other area left empty. The cathedral in the middle of the city to symbolize its centrality.

The cathedral of saint Nicolò is the center of the entire city and is the highest expression of this new Sicilian Barocco and today World Heritage of the UN. In 1996 the church collapsed due to a structural deficiency and was re-opened in 2007. Today the inside of the church has lost a lot of its original decorations and shows many contemporary frescos from international artists.

In front of the Cathedral there's the city-hall, a palace inspired by the French architecture, with its rounded shapes. Remarkable inside is the room of mirrors.

Apart from the many churches and monasteries, Noto is full of palaces belonging to noble families. Two of the most famous are the Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata and the Palazzo Modica di Sangiovanni, both belonging to the Nicolaci family, who established itself in Noto in the XVII century and whose wealth mainly comes from trade. Another important palace is the Palazzo Landolina, of the Landolina family, a noble and powerful family established in Noto already since the XI century.