Françoise Spiekermeier
Italy: a trip to Noto in Sicily
In Sicily, Noto is a well-kept secret, that of aesthetes unable to come to terms with the invasion of ugliness into this world. Their passion for beauty is behind the rebirth of abandoned palaces that have fallen into disrepair over the generations. By contributing their stone to the edifice, one of Italy's most beautiful cities regains its splendor. Built of limestone with a golden, sunny sheen, the city emerges from a fragrant countryside lined with lemon, olive and almond trees. Take a stroll.
The explosion behind Noto
All it took was an explosion of rock and fire burning everything in its path on January 11, 1693, to create a new blank page on this rock crystallizing the desire of architects to found a city whose splendor would make the gods of Olympus jealous. From this quest for beauty, perfect harmony was born, sometimes through the art of illusion, perspective or trompe l'oeil... With a snap of their fingers, Italian craftsmen created balconies in curved "goose-bosom" wrought-iron, facades decorated with mascarons, putti, smiling fauns, dolphins and chimeras. From dream to reality, nothing escaped the alchemical transmutation into mineral to house the destinies of great patrician families with ambitious visions.
Noto's most beautiful palaces
Miraculous tuna fishing has given rise to a wealth of palaces that know no bounds. The Palazzo Nicolaci, with its Baroque architecture, is a fine example. As you climb the Via Nicolaci leading to the square in front of thechurch of Montevergini, recognizable by its concave façade, it's impossible to escape the allure of the mermaid faces, cherubs and winged lions sculpted into the balconies and listed as Unesco World Heritage Sites - like the city as a whole. A visit to the piano nobile, the noble apartments on the second floor, reveals the living environment of Noto's most powerful aristocratic family between the 17th and 19th centuries.
Majestic staircase, series of enfilade salons... the visitor enters the ballroom decorated with richly coloured hangings reproduced on wallpaper. Leaning out of the artists' bedroom window, you're treated to a fabulous view of the city's rooftops!
Noto's magnificent churches
When visiting the city, take the Via Nicolaci, which climbs steeply towards Via Cavour in the ancient heart of Noto. The noble palaces are spread out over a rectilinear urban plan, where churches, presbyteries, convents and a multitude of religious buildings from a Baroque dream provide orientation. The generosity of the nobility towards local religious orders made possible this profusion of churches of all sizes. Some were desecrated and used as studios by the city's painters. Another, the Chiesa di Sant'Agata, designed by Rosario Gagliardi, adjoins the former Benedictine monastery. Wonderfully restored by Fabiola and Marco Avanzi, a Milanese couple on the cutting edge of fashion, it's a brand-new concept store dedicated to the art of living, where models by Balanciaga or Emilio Pucci rub shoulders with interior design objects such as esoteric ceramics by Fornasetti: a real gem, the Santagatha Pozzilei boutique is well worth a visit in via Trigona. If you're passing through, don't hesitate to drop in.
Sicilian jet set
Jean-Louis Rémilleux's Sicilian adventure, like a call to rediscovered beauty, inspires jet-set personalities. The palazzo spirit is enjoying a renaissance: Countess Marie-Laure de Fels has restored a former presbytery with a jasmine-scented garden. Photographer Mario Testino has bought a large farmhouse in the Val di Noto. For renowned decorator Jacques Garcia, the Sicilian adventure is called Villa Elena. Perched high above the Asinaro valley, the terraces of his "folly" open onto a sublime panorama, with the domes of Noto's churches as a backdrop. His talent as a builder found inspiration here in a handful of villas of refined luxury designed for exceptional stays.
Noto's most beautiful villas
The Thinking agency offers visitors the chance to rent houses and live like Sicilians. In the surrounding hills, shepherds' cottages are gradually giving way to sumptuous contemporary residences designed for travelers as a pied-à-terre for visiting Syracuse, the island of Ortegia, Ragusa, Modica and the other baroque splendors of the Val di Noto.
Tenuta Falconeri dominating the island's southeast coast, overlooking the nearby Ionian Sea, with its vast terraces shaded by centuries-old olive trees, evokes Hispano-Arab architecture, with luxurious interiors opening onto emerald lawns.
Rented by The Thinking Traveller, the agency dedicated to the rental of luxurious and exclusive homes, specialist in the Mediterranean basin, Italy, particularly Sicily and Puglia, Greece and Corsica, voted best villa rental agency in the world for the 8th year, the villa Tenuta Falconeri offers the possibility of living the Sicilian way of life without wasting time thanks to the guides of the Thinking Traveller agency. Featuring a curved swimming pool with a panoramic view over the valley, 6 bedrooms including two suites decorated with large exotic panels, and a large kitchen/living room, the antechamber to convivial evenings in the dining room opening onto the immense terraces, the villa is set in a 40-hectare estate planted with lemon trees, allowing families to gather in peace and quiet, without worrying about anything but their own well-being.
Stay at La Casa Vera closer to Noto
Also praised by The Thinking Traveller, La Casa Vera marries polished concrete and local stone in a prodigy of contemporary architecture where chiaroscuro effects change with the passing sun. Inside, the smooth feel of concrete underfoot is soothing. The living room wall, covered in Sicilian tiles, is in perfect harmony with pieces of vintage 50s furniture found at the Catania flea market, at the foot of the volcano. The perfect place for a romantic stay in Italy.
Walking on Noto's volcanic slabs
Back in Noto, the sun is your only master. To enter Noto is to enter a saraband magnetized by its course. Walk up Corso Vittorio Emanuele, for example: the city's main thoroughfare, paved with black volcanic slabs with silvery reflections, provides the map of the city. Rising from the east, the sun's disc disappears every evening right in the axis of the main thoroughfare, only to reappear at the other end every morning. At sunrise, the ideal spot is the Chioscho della Cattedrale, a small traditional kiosk serving a very short espresso with a pasticceria and the inevitable freshly squeezed Sicilian orange juice with a heavenly fragrance: under the thickly foliaged ficus trees, you can admire the facade of the basilica change color to the point of dazzlement. On the corner of the Palazzo Ducezio, now the town hall, a sculpture in metal and ceramic by the artist Sergio Fiorentino.
The studio of painter Sergio Fiorentino
Among the many sites not to be missed in Noto is Sergio Fiorentino 's studio, which occupies the former Cistercian monastery attached to the church of Santa Maria dell'Arco. It's also where he lives, a story of encounters. Paint stains litter the stone floor. On the bare walls, large blue-faced creatures stare at you gently, like strange angels held captive on the canvas. The painter moves among his works, which he presents with particular attention, constantly weaving his relationship with them. His favorite colors are cobalt blue and red, like the traces of frescoes discovered during the renovation of this space dominated by stone. The dialogue begins and the painter takes you outside. In the street, he takes you to another palazzo, the Palazzo Rau della Ferla, to meet fashion photographer Rosita Gia.
Archivio Rosita Gia's gallery at Palazzo Rau della Ferla
The tour of Noto continues at theArchivio gallery and boutique, home to Rosita Gia, Sergio Fiorentino's artistic partner. She is a photographer and fashion designer. On airy display racks, her silk models seem to float, declining in colors from black, to dark blue, to dazzling pink. They define a slim, delicate silhouette with folds that allow the hand to pass through and naturally reveal the curve of a thigh. The walls of the boutique gallery feature color and black & white photographs, the fruit of collaboration with the painter. In the hottest hours of the day, the two partners escape to the sea, throwing canvases into the water, and she photographs the effect of the wind, the drift of the works on the infinite blue. A creation about creation, in resonance with the elements.
Outside the city, the beach
Trapped in the summer heat of the stone city, the walker has a way out: escape into the valley, cut through the lemon groves, reach the Lido of Noto, and, at the Beach Club of the Hotel San Corrado di Noto... dive into the Mediterranean. By evening, the town will have regained its honeyed hues, a welcome moment to sip limoncello, lemonade or a glass of marsala.
