Val di Noto valley, located in South-Eastern Sicily at the foot of the Iblean mountains. In 1693 the whole region together with numerous cities and towns was destroyed in a devastating earthquake. The reconstruction that took place after the cataclysm, has created a unique architectural style that became known as the "Sicilian Baroque". The most striking examples of this style can be seen in the town of Noto, which today is a major tourist center of the valley.

It is known that since the time of the early Renaissance, the architects wanted to build a completely ideal city plan which was reflected rational approach, and its streets and buildings were organized according to their function and beauty. In reality, only a small portion of these projects to materialize, and most of it was confined to the redevelopment of individual streets, as it was with the Strada Nuova in Florence. And only in Sicily the architects managed to turn their dreams into reality and to build several ideal cities. These new towns and villages were designed in accordance with the layout styles of the Renaissance and Baroque periods in which the street or crossing each other at right corner, or start from the main city sites such as Piazza. Large buildings – churches, cloisters, palaces were built to create exquisite beautiful panorama. Many of the towns of the Val di Noto had a certain form, such as Grammichele with in terms of a hexagon whose center is the square with the parish Church and the town hall.. Another distinctive feature of these cities is a homogeneous structure of his buildings when construction was widely used in the Baroque.

Another tourist attractions of the Val di Noto can be called the ancient city of Akrai, currently located in the municipality of Palazzolo Acreide. It was founded in the 7th century BC and became the first colony of the Corinthians in Sicily. The ruins of the once flourishing cities were discovered in the 16th century, however, the first excavations were conducted only three centuries later.

In 2002, eight cities of the valley – Caltagirone, Militello in Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa and Scicli, were listed as a world Cultural Heritage by UNESCO.