Postcard from Noto, Sicily: Ever-Ready for ‘Lights. Camera. Action.’

Above: Stairway climbing up to Chiesa di San Francesco d’Assisi in Noto

The earthquake of 1693 virtually wiped medieval Antica Noto off the map, along with eliminating roughly half of its population. Undeterred by the widespread devastation, Sicilians started anew. The fresh start resulted in a city basically built in one style over a 50-year period – Sicilian Baroque. Gorgeous. Stunningly picturesque, yet….

Supposedly 25,000 people inhabit Noto, but, wandering in the historic center, it feels as though there is nobody home but us tourists – a lot of them. Which is a flaw. Noto looks so perfect that is seems artificial, more like a movie set, which it has been numerous times.

Fans of the series White Lotus might remember season two’s “Bull Elephants,” with Harper wandering down the street as Sicilian men circle her like a pack wolves (With so few natives around, perhaps they were forced to import extras from other parts of the island?). According to IMDb, the scene represents a major salute to:

…Michelangelo Antonioni’s film L’Avventura (1960). A shot-for-shot re-creation, it was even filmed in the exact same location. According to the series creator Mike White, it was cinematographer Xavier Grobet’s idea to pay homage to the classic Italian film when they were shooting in Noto and realized they were standing in the same plaza where the original scene from the film was shot. Speaking to Variety magazine, White explained the homage was fitting since the third episode is about “men and women and some of the classic sexual politics dynamics.” Aubrey Plaza, a self-professed “film nerd,” told Decider it was “an honor to get to pretend to be Monica Vitti in some weird, bizarre way.”

In L’Avventura, Sandro, a frustrated architect, surveys a town from a rooftop perch:

Such imagination. Such movement. They were concerned with the architectural aesthetics. Such extraordinary freedom.… Who needs beautiful things nowadays, Claudia? How long will they last? All of this was built to last centuries. Today, 10, 20 years at the most, and then? Well….

Ah, the famous stroll:

Warning: If traveling to Noto, take plenty of cash. Everywhere we had been in Siracusa took credit cards, so we carried a limited amount of Euros and left our ATM card in our apartment for safekeeping. While some places posted large signs reading “NO CREDIT CARDS,” our selection had no such notice outside or on menus. The meal was not inexpensive, as the historic center of Noto has tourist-district prices. Our only option was Paypal, which the not-very-good restaurant refused to accept. The manager actually was rude about it, exuding an attitude that everyone should know credit cards are no good in Noto. Fortunately, three German tourists sitting at the next table took pity upon us, pooled their Euros and let us email a Paypal payment to one of them.

Noto is an extremely short train trip outside of Sircusa, brief if the trains run at the appointed times. For our return ride, the scheduled train was a no-show. We waited, peering down the tracks longingly with other travelers. And waited. An hour slowly passed before the next scheduled train finally arrived.

The majority of Joe Wright’s 2022 Cyrano was shot in Noto. We’ll glance at that in the next post, which will take you inside one of the palaces where it was filmed.