We visited Noto yesterday morning. Noto is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and known for its architecture post 1693 earthquake. The earthquake caused massive damage, including most of the vaulted church ceilings to fall inside the churches. Noto buildings today mostly have Baroque exteriors and the whole city has been scrubbed and continues to be updated. Its terrain is less rolling, as Noto is on the side of a slight hill, so the city is layed out on a grid with the big churches primarily along two long streets running parallel, with parks interspersed. We loved Noto!
We drove just 4-5 km to the Villa Romana Del Tellaro, an ancient Roman villa with mosaic floors, uncovered in the 1970's. The depiction of lions, tigers, horses, and people in small broken marble tiles was beautiful. We went to the Vendicari Reserve, a national park, and walked to the beach, which overlooks a hundreds year old abandoned tuna factory. Our last stop of the day was the fishing village of Marzamemi, where we had lunch. After a rest, we ate dinner with other guests at our B&B, staying up to midnight talking. We enjoyed every moment of our day!
