Noto

Noto lies among the hills of southeastern Sicily, the historic centre of a district that bears its name. Its churches and palaces form a planned town on sloping terraces, built after disaster destroyed the older settlement. The ruins of old Noto stand inland from the later city, recalling a community that moved rather than rebuild on the same ground.

The earthquake of January 1693 devastated Noto and many other towns in southeastern Sicily. A new site was chosen farther south, and architects and builders created an ordered town with broad streets and richly ornamented Baroque churches. The reconstruction continued through the eighteenth century, giving Noto a striking architectural unity and making its new streets a monument to recovery after the earthquake.