Diocese of Noto

(NETEN).

Noto, the ancient Netum and after the Saracen conquest the capital of one of the three divisions of Sicily, was among the last cities to surrender to the Normans. Destroyed by an earthquake in 1693, it was rebuilt nearly five miles from its primitive site. It contains fine churches, like that of St. Nicholas, an archaeological museum with a collection of Syracusan, Roman, and Saracen coins, and a library. Noto is the birthplace of the humanist John Aurispa, secretary of Eugene IV and Nicholas V. In the cathedral is the tomb of Blessed Conrad of Piacenza. The diocese was separated in 1844 from the Archdiocese of Syracuse, of which Noto is suffragan; the first bishop was Joseph Menditto. It has 19 parishes; 148,400 inhabitants; 11 religious houses of men and 14 of women; a school for boys and three for girls; and a home for invalids.