Historical centres: Militello in Val di Catania

48 km from Catania - alt. 413m - pop. 6,214 ha - pop. 10,235

Local tradition claims Roman origins for the town, but it is more likely that it grew as a Byzantine hamlet. The very fact of this attempt to historicize its origins in order to increase prestige, reflects awareness of the religious, cultural and economic importance that the town has acquired, especially during the 1600s. This was thanks to the activities of Prince Francesco Branciforti and his wife, Giovanna D' Austria. The Brancifotti princes sought to impose an urban aspect on their rural hamlets that would symbolize their power. Reconstruction following the 1693 earthquake also came about thanks to the Brancifotti riches. The seventeenth-century Fontana della Zizza (the nymph celebrated by the Militello scholar Pietro Carrera) marks one of Francesco's most important urban projects: the aqueduct built in 1605. The large complex of the church of San Benedetto and the connecting Benedictine monastery (today the town haIl) were also commissioned by Francesco and his wife, Giovanna, and were built between 1614 and 1649. The prince and his heirs are buried in the church, which houses fine canvases and 1700s altar-pieces. The sanctuary of Maria Santissima della Stella dates from the first half of the 1700s and inside there are many works of art relating to both the Barresi period (owners prior to the Branciforti family here there is the fifteenth-century Gothic sarcophagus of Blasco 11 Barresi, decorated with sculpture, bas relief and the family crest) and the Branciforti period (the layered sarcophagus of the first marquis of Militello, Vincenzo Barresi and Branciforti, who died in 1567). There are also sixteenth century tombstones and sculptures, and seventeenth and eighteenth-century sculptures and altar-pieces that render the sanctuary important from the art history point uf view. Among the other churches are: the sixteenth-century Sant'Antonio da Padova, altered after the earthquake, but inside there is a 1574 chapel, evidence of the importance of Sicilian Renaissance architecture; the church of San Francesco di Paola, from the 1700s ( it has a sixteenth-century tableau, unfortunately repainted, a 1600s altar-piece by Giovanni Battista Baldanza jr, and a wooden statue from the 1700s); the mother church (San Nicolò and Santissimo Salvatore), rebuilt following the earthquake and surmounted by a dome dated 1904 ( architect, Salvatore Sortino), and one of the first Sicilian examples of the use of reinforced concrete - inside there are stuccoes from the 1700s, altar-pieces by G.B. Baldanza jr and Vito D'Anna; the church of Santa Maria della Catena (1652) is seat of the brotherhood of the Santissimo Crocifisso al Calvario with a 1661 wooden ceiling and stuccoes from the 1600s on the walls (as well as scenes from the life of Christ, the most revered Sicilian saints are depicted); Santa Maria degli Angeli of the late 1500s, with the former Capuchin conpent, which has an altar piece by Filippo Paladino inside; the church of San Sebastiano (1702), housing works by G.B. Baldanza sr; San Giovanni Battista, with a connecting convent that today is a residential building with a pavement in Caltagirone majolica; adjacent is the Oratorio dell'Angelo, also with a majolica pavement. Finally, just outside the town are the remains (nave and part of the prospect with Renaissance bas reliefs) of the church of Santa Maria la Vetere, built towards the end of the 1400s and destroyed by the earthquake. The churches, however, do not have monopoly over Militello's artistic-historical wealth. Worthy of mention are the remains of the late medieval Barresi Branciforti castle (a cylindrical tower) and the seventeenth-century palazzi: Baldanza ( built by the Branciforti family as their secretary's residence); dei Leoni (today Majorana); Rametta. The palazzi from the 1700s include: Baldanza Denaro and Reforgiato. The most important cultural institution is the Museo di San Nicola. Set up in 1981in the crypt of the mother church, it houses works of art and church furniture from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Of particular interest is a wooden statue (San Nicolo in Cattedra (pulpit), 1620) by G.B. Baldanza sr, and two altar-pieces by F. Paladino. A further sign of its religious and cultural importance is the presence of manuscripts and books from the 1600s to the 1800s.

Provincial Tourism Board of Catania
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