Its located 32 km southwest of the city of Syracuse at the foot of the Iblean Mountains and gives its name to the surrounding valley, Val di Noto.

In 2002 Noto and its church were declared a UNESCO World Heritage.The older town, Noto Antica, lies 8 km directly north on Mount Alveria.

It was ancient Netum, a city of Sicel origin, left to Hiero II by the Romans by the treaty of 263 BCE and mentioned by Cicero as a foederala citilas (Verr. v. 51, 133), and by Pliny as Latinae conditionis (Hist. Nat. iii. 8. 14). According to legend, Dedalus stopped here after his flight over the Ionian Sea, as well as Hercules, after his seventh task.

A view of the Noto town hall.
In the Roman era, it opposed praetor Verres. In 866 it was conquered by the Arabs, who elevated to a capital city of one of three districts of the island (the Val di Noto). Later it was a rich Norman city.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the city brought forth several notable intellectual figures, including Giovanni Aurispa, jurists Andrea Barbazio and Antonio Corsetto, as well as the architect Matteo Carnelivari: in 1503 king Ferdinand III gave it the title of civitas ingeniosa (“ingenious city”). In the following centuries, the city expanded enlarging its medieval limits; and new buildings, churches and convents were built. These, however, were all totally destroyed by the earthquake of January 11, 1693. The devastation of the city on Mount Alveria was accompanied by its economy, which relied mainly on agricultural products vine, oil, cereals, rice, cotton and its renowned handicrafts.

The current town, rebuilt after the earthquake on the left bank of River Asinaro, was planned on a grid system by Giovanni Battista Landolina. This new city occupied a position nearer to the Ionian Sea. The presence of architects like Rosario Gagliardi, Francesco Sortino and others, made the new Noto a masterpiece of Sicilian Baroque, dubbed the “Stone Garden” by Cesare Brandi and is currently listed among UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. The new structures are characterized by a soft tufa stone, which under sunlight assumes a typical honey tonality.

The city, which had lost its provincial capital status in 1817, rebelled against the House of Bourbon on May 16, 1860, leaving its gates open to Giuseppe Garibaldi and his expedition. Five months later, on October 21, a plebiscite sealed the annexation of Noto to Piedmont.

In 1844, Noto was named a bishopric seat, but in 1866 suffered the abolition of the religious guilds, which were deeply linked to the city’s structures and buildings.

Noto was freed from fascist dictatorship in July 1943. At the referendum of 1946, the Notinesi people voted in favour of the monarchy.

Val di Noto (English: Vallum of Noto[1]) is a geographical area of south east Sicily; it is dominated by the limestone Iblean plateau. In 1693 the entire area was decimated by an enormous earthquake. The area’s towns were rebuilt in what came to be known as the Sicilian Baroque style; most notable the town of Noto itself, which is now a tourist attraction on account of its fine Baroque architecture.

The ancient town of Akrai (Palazzolo Acreide) was founded in 664 BCE: it was the first colony of the Corinthian settlement at Syracuse. The Syracusans were currently expanding their power over the Sicilian interior. Little recorded the ruined town was rediscovered by the historian Tommaso Fazello at the end of 16th century. Further excavations in the early 19th century by Baron Gabriele Iudica, unearthed important facts concerning the early history of eastern Sicily.

In June 2002, UNESCO inscribed eight old towns of the Val di Noto on the World Heritage List as “representing the culmination and final flowering of Baroque art in Europe”. The towns inscribed are Caltagirone, Militello in Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa, and Scicli.

Enyoj of the sun of Noto valley!
www.merchantissimo.com

Duration : 0:3:19

[youtube WCNbsSAl3O0]

http://www.gov.mb.ca

http://media.washingtontimes.com

http://blog.mlive.com/us-world-news

http://media.signonsandiego.com/

http://images.usatoday.com

http://www.kare11.com

http://cgc.rncan.gc.ca/floods/redriver/images/view3.jpg

http://www.cityoffargo.com/

http://www.ndhorizons.com

http://www.npr.org/

more

Duration : 0:5:3

[youtube XxI7gIqiRWs]

Monument Valley is located on the southern border of Utah with northern Arizona (around 36°59′N, 110°6′W). The valley lies within the range of the Navajo Nation Reservation, and is accessible from U.S. Highway 163. The Navajo name for the valley is Tsé Bii’ Ndzisgaii (Valley of the Rocks).

The area is part of the Colorado Plateau. The floor is largely Cutler Red siltstone or its sand deposited by the meandering rivers that carved the valley. The valley’s vivid red color comes from iron oxide exposed in the weathered siltstone. The darker, blue-gray rocks in the valley get their color from manganese oxide.

The buttes are clearly stratified, with three principal layers. The lowest layer is Organ Rock shale, the middle de Chelly sandstone and the top layer is Moenkopi shale capped by Shinarump siltstone. The valley includes large stone structures including the famed Eye of the Sun.

Between 1948 and 1967, the southern extent of the Monument Upwarp was mined for uranium, which occurs in scattered areas of the Shinarump siltstone; vanadium and copper are associated with uranium in some deposits (see Uranium mining in Arizona).

The twin buttes of the Valley (“the Mittens”), the “Totem Pole,” and the Ear of the Wind arch, among other features, have developed iconic status. They have appeared in many television programs, commercials, and Hollywood movies, especially Westerns.

Director John Ford’s 1939 film Stagecoach, starring John Wayne, has had an enduring influence in making the Valley famous. After that first experience, Ford returned nine times to shoot Westerns — even when the films were not set in Arizona or Utah (see The Searchers, set in Texas, but filmed here). A popular lookout point is named in his honor as “John Ford Point.” It was used by Ford in a scene from The Searchers where an American Indian village is attacked.
The Himalaya Range (Sanskrit: हिमालय, IPA pronunciation: [hɪ'mɑlijə]), or Himalayas for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. By extension, it is also the name of the massive mountain system which includes the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush, the Toba Kakar, and a host of minor ranges extending from the Pamir Knot. The name is from Sanskrit himālaya, a tatpurusa compound meaning “the abode of snow” (from hima “snow”, and ālaya “abode”; see also Himavat).[1]As words, the expression “Himalaya Range” is similar to the expression Sierra Nevada.

Together, the Himalayan mountain system is the planet’s highest and home to the world’s highest peaks: the Eight-thousanders, including Mount Everest and K2. To comprehend the enormous scale of this mountain range consider that Aconcagua, in the Andes, at 6,962 m, is the highest peak outside Asia, while the Himalayan system includes over 100 mountains exceeding 7,200 meters.[2]

The Himalayan system, which includes outlying subranges, stretches across five countries: Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Pakistanand Afghanistan. They are the source of three of the world’s major river systems, the Indus, the Ganga-Brahmaputra, and the Yangtze. Approximately 1.3 billion people live in the drainage basin of the Himalayan rivers.

The range proper runs west to east, from the Indus river valley to the Brahmaputra river valley, thereby forming an arc 2,400 km long, which varies in width from 400 km in the western Kashmir-Xinjiang region to 150 km in the eastern Tibet-Arunachal Pradesh region. The Himalaya chain consists of three parallel ranges, with the northern-most range known as the Great or Inner Himalayas.

Duration : 0:1:50

[youtube IDHELJfh7XU]

Duration : 0:4:3

[youtube ezWqEIZei-A]

Duration : 0:4:3

[youtube ezWqEIZei-A]

Duration : 0:4:0

[youtube 6PKkD_AjOrA]

Please check out Starbert’s webpage for up-to-date information, more pictures, and VIDEO: http://www.valleyviewranch.net/starbert_river_doll.htm Please contact Ashley Olles for more information: CELL (214) 763-1690. -We can accept most major CREDIT CARDS!!!

Duration : 0:3:29

[youtube XbFkeCrEfDM]