Noto is a town of 24,000 that is famed for its Baroque architecture and its gelato. Being well known for architecture in the Noto Valley is fairly easy, given the fact that all of the towns in the region collapsed in the 1693 earthquake. At that point, any new building was by definition baroque. Indeed, eight towns in the Valley of Noto are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites as “representing the culmination and final flowering of Baroque art in Europe.”
What we discovered in Noto was one of the great reoccurring pleasures of visiting Europe: the effort to make sure that all people have access to the cultural and artistic heritage of a civilized world. In the case of Noto, it was an exhibit of Chagall’s prints and one of his painting. The New Mexican equivalent would be a show of Claus Oldenburg’s design drawings in Gallup.
Noto was also the first time that we realized that Italy has the very best food of any country we have ever visited. You might say that this is an easily attained status, given the fact that we’ve visited England and New Zealand and come from the land of fast food and plastic food chains. But when you find creative dishes, well-plated presentations, and superb wines in small town restaurants, you find yourself in the pleasure of greatness.
The gelato was also very good.
