Noto

Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Expand Italian Template:Infobox Italian comune

The church of St. Charles Borromeo.

A balcony of the Villadorata palace.

The church of San Domenico.

Noto (Template:Langx; Template:Langx) is a city and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy. It is Template:Convert southwest of the city of Syracuse at the foot of the Iblean Mountains. It lends its name to the surrounding area<ref>The {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is in Sicilian and in Italian a grammatically masculine term, and it does not refer to a 'Valley' as is usual in Italian geographical names, which are although always grammatically feminine, but to one of the Provinces or Governorates into which Sicily was administratively divided under Arab rule and up until the 1812 administrative reform. The corresponding Arabic term is {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), and the Sicilian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is akin to the Arab {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) or the Turkish {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), used as it would be a calque of the English term shire</ref> Val di Noto. In 2002 Noto and its church were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.<ref>Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto - listing on UNESCO website</ref>

EtymologyEdit

Noto is regarded as having a possible Ancient Greek etymology. Likely, the name is derived from "south" (Greek: Νότιο Notio), as in Notion.

HistoryEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The old town, Noto Antica, lies Template:Convert directly north on Mount Alveria. A city of Sicel origin, it was known as Netum in ancient times. In 263 BCE the city was granted to Hiero II by the Romans. According to legend, Daedalus stayed in the city after his flight over the Ionian Sea, as did Hercules after his seventh task. During the Roman era, it opposed the magistrate Verres.

File:Palazzo Ducezio-pjt.jpg

A view of Noto Town Hall.

In 866, the Muslims conquered the city and named it Nawṭis, elevating it to the capital of one of Sicily’s three districts, the Val di Noto. It remained an important Islamic stronghold until 1091, when it became the last city in Sicily to fall to the Christians.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Jordan of Hauteville, the eldest son of the first Norman Count of Sicily, was made lord of Noto. Under Norman rule, it later flourished as a wealthy and influential city.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the city was home to several notable intellectual figures, including Giovanni Aurispa, jurists Andrea Barbazio and Antonio Corsetto, as well as architect Matteo Carnelivari and composer Mario Capuana. In 1503 King Ferdinand III granted it the title of civitas ingeniosa ("Ingenious City"). In the following centuries, the city expanded, growing beyond its medieval limits, and new buildings, churches and convents were built.

The medieval town of Noto was virtually razed by the 1693 Sicilian earthquake.<ref>Distinta relatione dello spauentoso eccidio cagionato da'terremoti ultimamente con replicate scosse, accaduto a 9 & 11 di Gennaro di 1693 Regno di Sicilia by Alessandro Burgos, Palermo and Naples, 1893.</ref> Over half the population is said to have died from the earthquake.<ref>Storia della città di Noto, by Salvatore Russo Ferruggia, Pappalardo publisher, 1838): page 66.</ref> It was decided to rebuild the town at the present site, on the left bank of the River Asinaro, closer to the Ionian shore. These circumstances have led this town to have a unique architectural homogeneity since the core of the town was all built over the next decades after the calamity in what is a typical and highly preserved example of Sicilian baroque. The layout followed a grid system by Giovanni Battista Landolina and utilized the sloping hillside for scenographic effects. The architects Rosario Gagliardi, Francesco Sortino and others each participated in designing multiple structures. The town was dubbed the "Stone Garden" by Cesare Brandi and is currently listed among UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. Many of the newer structures are built of a soft tufa stone, which assumes a honey tonality under sunlight.Template:What Parts of the cathedral, however, unexpectedly collapsed in 1996.

The city, which had lost its provincial capital status in 1817, rebelled against the House of Bourbon on 16 May 1860, leaving its gates open to Giuseppe Garibaldi and his expedition. Five months later, on 21 October, a plebiscite sealed the annexation of Noto to Piedmont.

In 1844, Noto was named a diocese, but in 1866 suffered the abolition of the religious guilds, which had been deeply linked to the city's structures and buildings.

Noto was freed from the fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini in July 1943 when the town was liberated by British troops under General Bernard Montgomery as part of the opening phase of Operation Husky, the allied mission to liberate Sicily. The Notinesi people voted in favour of the monarchy in the referendum of 1946.

Main sightsEdit

Template:Travel guide Noto is famous for its buildings from the early 18th century, many of which are considered to be among the finest examples of Sicilian baroque style. It is a place of many religious buildings and several palaces.

Palazzi and other buildingsEdit

Palazzo Ducezio, the town hall. Designed by Vincenzo Sinatra, it houses neo-classical style frescos by Antonio Mazza.
Palazzo Astuto
Palazzo di Villadorata on via Nicolaci which was built by P. Labisi in 1733.
Palazzo di Lorenzo del Castelluccio
Town Library

Religious buildingsEdit

Noto Cathedral (Cattedrale di San Nicolò di Mira, finished in 1776)
Santa Agata church
Sant'Andrea Apostolo church
Anime Sante del Purgatorio ("Holy Souls of the Purgatory") church
Annunziata church
Sant'Antonio Abate church
Santa Caterina church
Santa Chiara church, with a precious Madonna (by Antonello Gagini), and Benedictine monastery
Church of San Francesco d'Assisi (Immacolata)
San Carlo al Corso church, designed by Rosario Gagliardi
Collegio di San Carlo church
San Corrado church
Santissimo Crocifisso church
Crociferio di San Camillo church
San Domenico church by Rosario Gagliardi
Ecce Homo church
Sant'Egidio Vescovo church
San Girolamo church also known as Chiesa di Montevergine
Santa Maria dell'Arco: church and former Cistercian monastery, founded in 1212 under the patronage of Count Isimberto or Isemberto di Morengia and is wife Sara<ref>Sicilia da Le Cento Citta d'Italia, page 72.</ref> The church moved from Arco to the old Noto, then after 1693 to the new Noto. Church designed by Rosario Gagliardi. The monastery was closed by 1789, and little remains of the original structure.<ref>I Cistercensi, website.</ref>
Santa Maria del Carmelo church
Santa Maria del Gesù church
Santa Maria della Rotonda church
Santa Maria della Scala church
San Michele Arcangelo church
San Nicola di Mira church
Sacro Nome di Gesu church
San Pietro Martire church
San Pietro delle Rose (Saints Peter and Paul) church
Santissimo Salvatore church
Santissimo Salvatore: church and benedictine convent (1735), designed by Gagliardi. It has an oval plant, the interior divided by twelve columns housing a Madonna with Child from the 16th century
Spirito Santo church
Santissima Trinità church

Archaeological sitesEdit

The remains of Noto's ancient structures are almost entirely hidden beneath the ruins of the mediaeval town, except for three chambers cut into the rock. One is noted by an inscription in the library at Noto to have belonged to a gymnasium, while the other two were heroa (shrines of heroes). Explorations have discovered four cemeteries dating to the third Sicel period and one from the Greek period. Among other finds are catacombs of the Christian period and several Byzantine tombs.

About Template:Convert south of Noto, on the left bank of the Tellaro (Helorus) river, stands a stone column about Template:Convert high, which is believed to be a memorial to the surrender of Nicias. In the 3rd century BC, a tomb was excavated in the rectangular area which surrounds it, destroying an apparently pre-existing tomb. Remnants of a later burial site belonging to the necropolis of the small town of Helorus, Template:Convert to the southeast, have been discovered. The Villa Romana del Tellaro is a Roman villa located south of Noto.

Nature reservesEdit

Two nature reserves can be found near Noto: the Riserva naturale orientata Cavagrande del Cassibile, established in 1990,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the Riserva naturale orientata Oasi Faunistica di Vendicari, established in 1984.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

CultureEdit

In the Noto neighbourhood, a 32-m radiotelescope was installed by the Istituto di Radioastronomia di Bologna as part of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. It works in collaboration with a similar instrument in Medicina, Bologna.<ref>Noto VLBI home page. Noto.ira.inaf.it. Retrieved on 18 December 2012.</ref>

The city has held an annual flower festival, the Infiorata, every May since the 1980s, lining the Corrado Nicolaci with floral mosaics.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

One episode of the movie L'Avventura (1960) directed by Michelangelo Antonioni was shot in Noto and features views of its cathedral and square.<ref name="wwguide">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

EconomyEdit

The local area is home to several quality wine producers.

GalleryEdit

Noto 2008 IMG 1442.jpg

Theatre
Noto, duomo 03.1.JPG

Noto Cathedral
San domenico church01.jpg

Church of San Domenico
Noto 2008 IMG 1392.jpg

Church of St. Charles Borromeo
Noto 2008 IMG 1384.jpg

Church of San Francesco all'Immacolata
Chiesa del Carmine a Noto.JPG
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Noto flickr01.jpg

Arch
Noto 2008 IMG 1372.jpg

Church of the Santissimo Crocifisso
Noto, chiesa di santa chiara.JPG

Church of Santa Chiara
Via Nicolaci Noto-pjt.jpg
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Palazzo Landolina.JPG

Palazzo Landolina

ReferencesEdit

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Sicily and Its Islands, 2004 - Ugo La Rosa editore

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External linksEdit

Template:Province of Syracuse Template:World Heritage Sites in Italy Template:Authority control