"Eight towns in south-eastern Sicily - Caltagirone, Catania, Miletello val de Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzoio Aereide, Ragusa and Scicli - were rebuilt after 1693 on or beside towns existing before the great earthquake of that year. The reconstruction of these towns represents a considerable collective undertaking accomplished successfully and with a uniformly high architectural and artistic standard. While adhering to the late Baroque style of the day, these towns depict distinctive innovation in urban planning and construction." UNESCO Citation for the Late Baroque Cities of the Val di Noto.
Noto, one of these eight UNESCO-protected masterpieces of town planning is just 30 minutes southwest of Syracusa. As is the case across so much of the region, the original town was home in turn to the Ancient Greeks, Romans, Normans and Arabs before falling to the Christians in 1091 AD. When the medieval village was completely levelled by the terrible earthquake, it was rebuilt from scratch on a new site about 10km from the old centre.
Under the supervision of the Duke of Camastra on behalf of the then Spanish Viceroy, three celebrated Sicilian architects Labisi, Sinatra and Gagliardi created a new town based firmly on late Baroque ideals.
The idea was to create a linear, perfectly proportioned urban centre whose parallel lines would provide myriad panoramas. The town was divided into three parts by three roads running from east to west, thus ensuring maximum sun. At the top lived the nobility, in the middle the clergy, and at the bottom the hoi polloi (mid 17th century: Greek, literally ‘the many’) Our tiny apartment is definitely with the hoi polloi.
The principal building material was local compacted limestone, a substance that they say absorbs the sun’s rays and transforms them into a soft golden-honeyed glow. Of course the public buildings have fared better than the private ones in terms of conservation.
The main thoroughfare is Corso Vittorio Emanuele along which many of Noto’s most beautiful buildings stand.
It begins at the Porta Reale (above) and extends east via three piazzas each with its own church.
It includes the inspired Palazzo Ducrezio, now the town hall.
The Cathedral, the dome of which collapsed in 1996,
which might have influenced the very plain or unadorned most recent renovation.
The interior has quite a 'modern' look for such an old cathedral.
It has several modern pieces.
The Church of San Francesco is also on the main street.
As is this lovely fountain, the name of which escaped me,
And the Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata,
which had a wonderfully painted ballroom
and a fabulous courtyard perfumed by a most luxuriant chinese star jasmine.
Neither Paul nor I are great pizza fans, but dinner last night at this pizzeria called The Garden of Santa Chiara was excellent. Pizza in Sicily is different from what we find in Australia; almost always cooked in wood-fired ovens, more crusty around the edges and with much better quality ingredients - real buffalo mozzarella, fresh tomato sauce, juicy whole olives, generous serves of prosciutto (or whatever you have selected) - and for me, it is possible to have the pizza baked plain with fresh cheese, fresh tomatoes and lots of herbs added (raw) at the end.
No pizza tonight, though. We ate at the Cantina Modica, in Via Nicolaci, directly opposite the Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata,
And yes, the wine was excellent as were my sardines and the caponata.
It was so mild (compared to the weather of the last two weeks) that we braved an outside table. It is 9.30 pm but the LED street lights make it very pleasant.
Our charming waitress.
There is much heritage about this place. It had an amazing array of old familyphotographs from the mid 19thC to the 1950's as well as this wall of old wine bottles.
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