Friday 19th May

Our journey to the Flower Festival in Noto was blighted by more SatNav problems. Being unable to bend SatNav to my will we defaulted to using Google Maps. This worked just fine until we were about 1 km from our intended stop when we discovered both a 3t weight limit and a 2.7metre high bridge. Neither were obstacles Basil could cross and SatNav had the last laugh because he had already anticipated these obstacles and proposed a 10 mile detour. A reluctant one up to SatNav.

We eventually settled down at a private Sosta (36.8837, 15.0860 €25 including electricity) 1.5 km outside Noto’s old town. The Sosta was very busy, presumably due to the Flower Festival, but on other occasions the pitches would be spacious and grassy.

The Sosta runs a regular free Shuttle Bus into Noto and we availed ourselves of this service after lunch.

Even though the Flower Festival doesn’t officially start until tomorrow, Noto was jumping. Some stalls were already open and others were setting up for tomorrow. The streets were crowded, not least because it appears all the schools were shut for the day. It became apparent later that the children had a large part to play in constructing the enormous flower display, which fills a whole street, and is the centre piece of the festival.

We spent the afternoon primarily admiring the architectural delights of Noto. It is, perhaps, the prettiest of the UNESCO World Heritage Baroque cities in this part of Sicily. Not only are the buildings individually beautiful, there is a great harmony due to them all using a lovely golden local stone for their construction.

The main structures were all erected in the early 18th Century after the terrible earthquake of 1693 that killed up to 60,000 people in this area. Noto decided to abandon their original town, the remains of which can still be seen a few miles away, and build completely from scratch. The streets are laid out in a grid and the Palaces for the wealthy are all in the higher part of town with the lower orders housed at an appropriately lower altitude!

Being at the Festival the day before it officially opened gave us the opportunity to observe some of the preparations. We could see the street where the carpet of flowers, depicting various Italian movies, would appear. Later in the day hundreds of school children and supervisors started constructing the main display, but by the time we departed at 8pm there was still an enormous amount of work to complete.

On the Sunday of the Festival, which we were going to miss, there was to be parade through the town, but luckily for us there was a full dress rehearsal complete with dignitaries regaled in 18th Century costumes; a large ensemble of drummers; and a final group waving large, medieval looking, flags and on occasions throwing them high in the air and then catching them.

Finally we stopped and had a drink at an outside table and watched as some very stylishly dressed ladies started their evening passeggiata.

Sarah and I fancied a pizza and we sat down in a small recommended pizzeria, but for the first time in Italy, we were a little disappointed. It would have been a decent pizza in England but for Italy it didn’t quite cut the mustard!

Saturday 20th May

The day dawned overcast and with on and off light drizzle.

The shuttle bus we tried to catch into Noto was full, but it was only 1.5km and so we had an easy walk to start our day.

Everything in the old town was now complete. Stalls selling crafts and foods of various types were located in areas at each end of the Main Street.

Yesterday, we realised our friends, Helen and Mark were only a short distance away in Siracusa and so we had told them about the Flower Festival and Noto generally. A quick WhatsApp confirmed that they had decided to come and had already toured most of Noto.

We met up with them for a small Italian lunch and shortly afterwards they departed to catch their train to Siracusa.

Our remaining task for the day was to see the main Flower Display which we had seen being constructed only 24 hours earlier. The result was spectacular. It filled a whole street 100 metres or more long and depicted a variety of Italian movies, of which I am ashamed to say I had never heard.

We think, from seeing the early stages of construction, that different groups were responsible for each scene. The display was built using a variety materials. Flowers and flower petals were the major part, but finer details were made using sand, coloured rice and I even saw some mung beans!

The public could walk up the side of the display on pavements, but in my opinion the best view was either from the top or the bottom.

Afterwards we meandered around the various stalls and then, finding our shuttle bus would not arrive for half an hour, we walked back beating the shuttle by several minutes.

* Courtesy of a 78RPM record I grew up with featuring Jack Hilton and his Orchestra.