Every year in Sicily, artists spend the entire night laying flower petal portraits on a cobblestone street. The main event of the 2026 edition starts this week!
The Infiorata di Noto is one of those things that sounds made up until you see it.
Once a year, the maestri infioratori – a guild of local floral artists – spend an entire night on their hands and knees on Via Nicolaci, a Baroque street in Noto, composing enormous picture-perfect artworks entirely from flower petals, seeds, and leaves. Each square metre requires thousands of individual petals, placed by hand. By dawn, the whole street is a carpet. By Tuesday, it's gone.
This year is the 47th edition, and the theme is "Pop Culture Tells Its Story" – so the compositions will feature the likes of Andy Warhol, Freddie Mercury, Marilyn Monroe, and The Beatles. Made of flowers. On a UNESCO-listed street. In Sicily.
The main event is 15–19 May, but the programme actually runs from late April to 28 June! Admission is €5. The bell tower of San Carlo Church next to Via Nicolaci gives you a bird's eye view after 85 steps – worth every one of them.
A floral masterpice made by students for last years ScuoleInFiore
Bonus: the season ends on 28 June with the Frecce Tricolori – Italy's aerobatic display team – doing a full air show over Lido di Noto. It's their only Sicilian stop of the year.
Happy to answer questions if you're planning to go!
You can read the full programme in English on my site: