Noto: Sicilian Baroque Cathedral and UNESCO World Heritage near Syracuse, Italy; Ното у Сиракуз

Описание: Noto is a city in southeastern Sicily, Italy. It’s known for its baroque architecture, including the reconstructed 18th-century Noto Cathedral. Across the street is the Palazzo Ducezio, now the town hall, with the Hall of Mirrors embellished by gilding and stuccos. Nearby, the Palazzo Nicolaci has richly decorated balconies. Resembling a triumphal arch, the 19th-century Porta Reale marks the entrance to the city. The town was dubbed the "Stone Garden" by Cesare Brandi and Noto and its church were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002.
The old town, Noto Antica, lies 8 kilometres (5 mi) directly north on Mount Alveria. A city of Sicel origin, it was known as Netum in ancient times. In 263 BCE the city was granted to Hiero II by the Romans. According to legend, Daedalus stayed in the city after his flight over the Ionian Sea, as did Hercules after his seventh task. During the Roman era, it opposed the magistrate Verres.
In 866 it was conquered by the Muslims, who elevated the city to become a capital of one of the three districts of the island (the Val di Noto). In 1091, it became the last Islamic stronghold in Sicily to fall to the Christians.[5] Later it became a rich Norman city.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the city was home to several notable intellectual figuresThe medieval town of Noto was virtually razed by the 1693 Sicilian earthquake. Over half the population is said to have died from the earthquake. Noto cathedral in the style of the Sicilian Baroque, began in the early 18th century and was completed in 1776. It is dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Myra, and has been the cathedral of the Diocese of Noto since the diocese's establishment in 1844.The cathedral dome collapsed in 1996 as a result of unremedied structural weakening caused by an earthquake in 1990, to which injudicious building alterations in the 1950s may have contributed. It has since been rebuilt, and was reopened in 2007. We visited Noto on the same day as we visited Catania and Syracuse before we went to Agrigento and Palermo on the next day from Catania