NOTO, Diocese of. - City and diocese in Sicily, in Italy, suffragan of the archdiocese of Syracuse. Seven municipalities of the diocese are in the province of Ragusa and 4 in the province of Syracuse.
It has an area of 1,514 sq. km. with a population of 190,800 inhabitants, almost all Catholics; it has 53 parishes served by 115 diocesan priests and 64 regulars; it has a major and a minor seminary; 14 male religious communities and 18 female ones (Ann. Pont., 1951, p. 292).
It is the ancient Netum, which passed to the Romans with Hiero II; under Arab rule it constituted one of the centers of the three parts into which Sicily was then divided, under the name of "Val di N." The old city, situated between two deep gorges, was destroyed by the earthquake of 1693. The present one rises on the slope of a hill.
N. was a provincial capital from 1837 to 1865 in place of Syracuse. The diocese was created by Pope Gregory XIII on May 15, 1844, by detachment from the archdiocese of Syracuse; its first bishop was Msgr. G. Menditto. From 1913 to 1936 its bishop was Msgr. Vizzini.
The Cathedral is dedicated to St. Nicholas of Bari. There are preserved in it the remains of the Piacenza hermit St. Conrad Confalonieri. Notable are the church of the Most Holy Savior and its convent, the churches of the Immaculate Conception, of St. Dominic with a Larocca facade; of Monte Vergine, etc. The church of the College, formerly of the Jesuits, is now a lyceum. The church of the Crucifix has in its portal two Romanesque lions coming from a church of ancient N. Notable are the sanctuaries situated in the gorges near ancient N., namely the Hermitage of the Madonna della Provvidenza and the hermitage of St. Conrad. There have also been identified remains of a cenobium and two small Byzantine apsidal basilicas in the district of S. Marco. Near ancient N. were discovered Jewish hypogea and a small Byzantine cemetery (P. Orsi, in Notizie degli scavi... 1897, pp. 67-90). Patron of the city is St. Conrad, whose feast is celebrated on Feb. 19 and on the last Sunday of Aug.
Enrico Josi