The Ancient City of Noto
Noto is the Baroque city of
Sicily. The ancient city was totally destroyed by an earthquake in 1693;
so Noto was rebuilt 13 km (20 mi) away in the then-popular Baroque style.
Noto is the place to see Baroque art and architecture not just in its
grand expressions of palaces or great churches, but in lesser, domestic
and secular forms. Even the smallest details are harmonious: if you walk
down Noto's grand main street, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, it feels like you
are entering a period film set.
Of course, the grandest buildings are still the most interesting and most
beautiful. The best are concentrated in the Piazza Municipio, Noto's main
square, where the cathedral of San Nicolo de Mira (which has been
undergoing repairs after a recent, less severe earthquake) is flanked to
its left by the Palazo Alfano and the Palazzo Villadorta fantastic froth
of late Baroque at its most fanciful:
it is covered in wrought-iron balconies and fabulous lions, nymphs, ogres
and mythical creatures. To the right of the cathedral is the Palazzo Vescovile, and opposite is the Town Hall, known as the Palazzo Ducezio.
The latter is famous for its portico, and both buildings represent a more
restrained form of Baroque decoration than some buildings here.
If all the Baroque style has not
become too much, farther down the Corso is Noto's other important piazza,
the Piazza XVI Maggio, which features the Vittorio Emanuele theatre and
the church of San Domenico, with its spectacular, elegant curving facade,
which was built in 1727.
