Noto To You

Once more to the railway station dear friends. Yesterday we did the train ride again, but this time only half the distance to the small city of Noto. Following the massive earthquake in 1693, Noto was rebuilt along with about 8 other towns in the Noto Valley. As a result, they have a similar baroque style.

Noto is called the town of butter because the white limestone from which it was built turns golden with age. The train dropped us off in a rather nondescript part of the city so we wandered off following signs to the tourist office which, as usual, soon disappeared. Sheelagh knew the name of the street which we needed, so when we met a lady window shopping along the street we asked her in our best Italian with the guide book as a prop. She tried to tell us where we should go and then indicated that she would drive us there. We were very glad as it turned out to be mostly uphill.

She dropped us at the Porta Reale. This is a large stone archway at the bottom of the main street which is said to be a pedestrianised street. There were a lot of cars for a pedestrianised area.The first thing we noticed was the large number of school groups. Field trips are everywhere.

We wandered along in the sunny street stopping first at the church of St Clara. This is a very small church set as a display of the life of the 18th century nuns. For 1 Euro 50 we could explore the passage ways where they spent their days. We could go up on the roof and look down over the city.

Next we went to the beautiful Cathedral that is very new since it basically fell apart in 1996. It has a simple clean interior with lovely paintings on the walls using Trompe l'oiel. There we bought tickets that allowed us into the City Hall, the Teatro Communicale and the Civic Museum.

The theatre was abuzz as they set up the stage for a production of King Lear that night. It is a beautifully ornate little theatre designed the same as La Scalla in Milan. Lots of red and gold. We got to go up and enter one of the boxes that are still in use.

The Civic Museum holds a collection of architectural bits and pieces, and a display of art and sculpture by favourite local artists. Some are great some are, not great.

 Lunch on a sunny patio and then a stroll off the main street and back down the hill to the station to catch the train to Pozzallo.