Noto is the finest baroque town in Sicily, which is to say the finest baroque town in Italy. Raised from nothing after the earthquake of 1693, it is a gloriously theatrical architectural ensemble of grace, symmetry, tawny-stoned palaces, opulent piazzas, sweeping vistas, and majestic churches.

Built during the golden age of the baroque, Noto was able to adopt the best of the eighteenth century’s architectural ideals. Streets were laid out on a neat grid, for example, glimpses of countryside were introduced as unexpected features of urban vistas, and hillsides were used to site piazzas and staircases that played deliberate tricks of perspective.

The town was also divided in two, with a patrician lower section and another more humble quarter devoted to the accommodation of ordinary people. Most of what you want to see is in the former, an area that consists of three key piazzas and three principal street.