Last Sunday my friend Christine and I took an ITT tour down to the city of Noto, a city from the Baroque era, to marvel at the incredible works of art made entirely out of flowers, seeds, grains; basically anything natural! I think the theme this year had something to do with Opera--I'm not quite sure. What happens is people submit their design early to be considered for the annual event, then about 12 are picked to actually be created on this street in Noto using nothing but all natural materials. It was truly amazing to witness--I cannot even imagine how long those artists must have labored to create such exact replicas of their original designs! We were also just in time for a parade, which included people dressed in Baroque-style pieces. I think they were recreating some sort of event and they represented people from the big families of older times. They all met in front of the town hall and sat under their family flag, then I have no idea what was happening, but it was being televised, so it must have been pretty important!
Noto is an interesting place to visit, although a lot of its main buildings were damaged during the earthquake of '92, so there is a lot of scaffolding covering them presently. It is located in the southeastern tip of Sicily, about 35 kilometers SW of Siracusa. The original city of Noto (now referred to as Noto Antica) was destroyed in the big earthquake of 1693 and was rebuilt completely on a different site in the Baroque style. I also learned about a great drink to help cool you off--a glass of iced tea with a few scoops of lemon granita in it--so good! It's like an Arnold Palmer (my favorite summer time drink), but better!
I have posted some pictures from Noto on my Yahoo photo link.
http://www.bestofsicily.com/noto.htm for info about Noto
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