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The old town, Noto Antica, lies 8 kilometres (5 mi) directly north onMount Alveria. A city ofSicel origin, it was known asNetum in ancient times. In 263 BCE the city was granted toHiero II by theRomans. According to legend,Daedalus stayed in the city after his flight over theIonian Sea, as didHercules after his seventh task. During the Roman era, it opposed the magistrateVerres.
A view of Noto Town Hall.
In 866,the Muslims conquered the city and named itNawṭis, 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.[6]Jordan of Hauteville, the eldest son of thefirst Norman Count of Sicily, was made lord of Noto. UnderNorman 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, includingGiovanni Aurispa, jurists Andrea Barbazio and Antonio Corsetto, architect Matteo Carnelivari, and composerMario Capuana. In 1503 KingFerdinand III granted it the title ofcivitas 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 the1693 Sicilian earthquake.[7] Over half the population is said to have died in the quake.[8] It was decided to rebuild the town at the present site, on the left bank of the RiverAsinaro, closer to the Ionian shore. These circumstances have given Noto a unique architectural homogeneity, since the core of the town was built over the decades after the calamity in a typical and highly preserved example ofSicilian baroque. The layout followed a grid system byGiovanni Battista Landolina and utilized the sloping hillside for scenographic effects. The architectsRosario Gagliardi, Francesco Sortino, and others participated in designing multiple structures. The town was dubbed the "Stone Garden" byCesare Brandi and is listed amongUNESCO'sWorld Heritage Sites. Many of the newer structures are built of a softtufa stone, which assumes a honey tonality under sunlight.[clarification needed] Parts of the cathedral unexpectedly collapsed in 1996.
The city, which lost its provincial capital status in 1817, rebelled against theHouse of Bourbon on 16 May 1860, leaving its gates open toGiuseppe Garibaldi andhis expedition. On 21 October, a plebiscite sealed the annexation of Noto toPiedmont.
In 1844, Noto was named adiocese, but in 1866 it suffered the abolition of the religious guilds, which had been deeply linked to the city's structures and buildings.
Noto is famous for its buildings from the early 18th century, many of which are considered to be among the finest examples ofSicilian baroque style. It is a place of many religious buildings and several palaces.
San Girolamo church also known asChiesa 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[9] 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.[10]
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 aMadonna with Child from the 16th century
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. An inscription in the Noto library says one belonged to a gymnasium while the other two wereheroa (shrines of heroes). Explorations have discovered four cemeteries dating to the thirdSicel period and one from theGreek period. Among other finds arecatacombs of the Christian period and severalByzantine tombs.
About 6 kilometres (4 mi) south of Noto, on the left bank of the Tellaro (Helorus) river, stands a stone column about 10 metres (33 ft) high, which is believed to be a memorial to the surrender ofNicias. In the 3rd century BC, a tomb was excavated in the rectangular area around it, destroying an apparently preexisting tomb. Remnants of a later burial site belonging to the necropolis of the small town ofHelorus, 750 metres (2,460 ft) to the southeast, have been discovered. TheVilla Romana del Tellaro is aRoman villa south of Noto.
^TheVal inVal di Noto is inSicilian and inItalian agrammatically 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 theProvinces orGovernorates into which Sicily was administratively divided under Arab rule and up until the 1812 administrative reform. The correspondingArabic term iswāli (والي), and the Sicilianval is akin to the Arabwilayah (ولاية) or the Turkishvilayet (ولايت), used as it would be acalque of the English termshire
