Noto (Sicily)
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Is one of the most beautiful villages of Sicily.It offers an architectural panorama which is unique in the whole world for its unity and the harmony of a baroque style that is clear and floral: made naturally evident by the rosy color of the stone utilized to build the village. NOTO has to be visited with care, slowly. Every corner, every stone surprises after having overcome the touching impact with the scenografic expression of its major architecture (the Cathedral and its stairs, S.Domenico, Ducezio Palace, Nicolaci Palace, just to cite the most famous). Everything, even the smallest one, preserves its baroque grace and tells about the care used to rebuild the village in its present site after the devasting earthquake of 1693.
The ancient city of Noto, (Neai) was amongst the first Siculi Centers,
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as it's attested by the numerous necropoIi. Subdued to Siracusa and, in the 263, was left by Romans in power of Ierone the Third. it became a Roman Town later, known as (Neetum), and it was the unique Sicilian town that didn't suffer Verre's hordes. Under the Arabs its name became the Val of Noto, denomination that maintained until '800. Under Ferdinando the Catholic was known as "the clever". The earthquake of 1693 destroyed it, and the city's survivors abandoned it, buildin' back the city nearer to the sea in the XVIII Century.
Today Noto, it's the more important center of Siracusa's Province, expansed on the slope of a hill, it is a happy town, characteristic and interessanting for its churches, convents and palaces, dominant in ample plazas or lined up in whimsical perspectives that create a pompous architectural scenary typical of the '700. After giving its name to the Valley from the Arabic epoch 'till 1817; it became
Capital of the Province instead of Siracusa. It is a Diocese since '8 June 1844. The inhabitants are called Netini. The Party of S. Conrad, protector of the city, it's a really beautiful one; it is on February the 19th and on the last Sunday of August.There the architect Matteo Carnelivari was born on the XV Century.
Words by: http://www.grifasi-sicilia.com