Noto

In 1693, a devastating earthquake in this area killed ~ 60,000 people and completely destroyed numerous towns and villages.  The towns were re-planned and re-built in the Baroque style.  The town of Noto was actually moved to a new site 14 km away.  The old town, which sits atop Monte Alveria, is now known as Noto Antica.  The town had been inhabited since the 5th century BC, it was in a very good defensive position with cliffs plunging down into a gorge.

Today the site was deserted as we wandered around the old rubble, which is overgrown with trees and other plants.  Then we walked about half way down the gorge, on the ascent, some sheep came along with their bells jingle jangling.

Castello Reale, the only structure to survive the earthquake.

Palazzo Landolina di Bellaudia, once a grand palace built in the early 17th century.

We don’t know what this tree is, but the berries looked great on the bare wood.

Baroque Architecture

The Baroque began when the Renaissance began to fade, it has been argued that Palladio and Michelangelo paved the way for the Baroque by their originality, but we see the very early signs of the Baroque in ancient Roman architecture.  The Baroque has come under some heavy criticism; referred to as a debased form of art, disfigured, as bizarre as it is tasteless.  We have to remember that Baroque buildings are recognized by their design rather than by their abundance of ornamentation.

The Baroque conserves the edge, the building is designed to stand out but it will flow into adjacent buildings.  Sometimes, it is not clear where the building starts or ends.  There is an increase in density of elements and decoration toward the centre.  The rhythm of the facade will vary; concave and convex, light and shade, the layering implies volume.  Multiple themes are going on, it is all very theatrical, artificial looking and exaggerated.

We tend to park at the first free and legal parking place that we encounter.  In Noto, we parked in a huge lot that only had a few other cars, I guess that was our clue that we were parking a million miles from the centre of town.  Nevertheless, it is the thing to do, as walking up steps, down steps and through allies without really knowing where we are does seem to work out.  I think that Noto is a walker’s paradise and a driver’s nightmare.  Walkers can head down stairs and up and down narrow lanes while things look more complicated for the drivers of cars.

We saw a church dome and just headed in that general direction, knowing we would never be able to retrace our route on the return.  Luckily, I had a map of the centre which listed some of the names of the 50 churches that exist in town.  We got our bearings as the churches had signage.

We had a great time walking around Noto looking at the Baroque architecture.  The stone used is local and the sun has baked it to a lovely golden hue.  Supposedly, it is best viewed at sunset as it looks like the town is lit up.  There is so much detail, it is easy to miss all the little faces and the just plain weirdness that is sitting high up on the buildings.  It really was a joy to see and we were quite delighted with it all.

We made it back to the landmark church but lost our route after that.  We just headed in the general direction that we thought we needed to go and made it back to the parking lot.

Light fixture with attitude.

A long line of the Baroque.

Note the architectural elements get more densely packed toward the centre of the building.

This is a civic building.

Some detail on the pillaster.

So much going on here, Doric columns on bottom, then Ionic, then Corinthian.

Lucky dog.

The theatre, a wonderful building.

You really get a sense of motion with this one.

This hovers right over you as you stand on the street.

This style of balcony is common.

Quite a cast of characters, the detail is astounding.

We took our road to Noto and back again to Modica.  Yes, we are now calling it our road.  It winds through farm land and trees and is just the best, as there is never much traffic and we always encounter a big front wheel assist tractor or two pulling really small covered carts that must be hauling vegetables or some other produce.  There are dairy farms along the way as well, they are indistinguishable from other farms except for the cows, of course.

We got back near 5:00, which worked out well as that is when the shops open up for the evening.  We wandered into the very best cheese and deli shop ever.  The shopkeeper asked if we wanted strong or mild cheese, we said strong, so he gave us a sample of a local cow’s milk cheese which was so good.  Then he gave us a sample of a sheep’s milk cheese from Agrigento with peppercorns in it, oh my, fantastic.  We got some deli meat as well, some wine and finally, some local almonds.  We knew that there had to be local almonds as there are flowering almond trees all over the place.

Then we went next door to a tiny vegetable shop and got our vegetables for the day.  Lastly, we dropped into the next butcher shop and got our meat for the next few days.  What a way to shop, we just love it, and the people in Modica are very friendly and give great service.

Well, that is a wrap for another exceptional day in Sicily.