Historical centres: Vizzini

60 km from Catania - alt. 684m -   12,583 ha - pop. 8,645

Vizzini stands in a declivity between two adjacent hills, on one of which - the Castle Hill - there are many caves that suggest the existence of a prehistoric settlement. The medieval town grew round the castle and in the fourteenth century made up part of the dowry of the Aragonese queens (the dowry also included nearby Lentini). From the following century onwards the town expanded onto the other, "Calvary", hill, and in 1649 it was granted to Nicolò Schittino with the title of duke. The oldest part of the town still maintains the medieval urban layout with its passageways and courtyards. Among the more important buildings is the mother church (San Gregorio), rebuilt following the earthquake with some earlier architectonic elements, such as the fifteenth-century Gothic-Catalan portal from the old town hall. Inside the church there are stuccoes from the late 1700s and two paintings by Filippo Paladino. The town government is housed today in a building from the early 1800s. The church of Sant'Agata was founded in the 1300s, but rebuilt in the 1700s; the church of San Giovanni Battista (with stuccoes inside by Natale Bonaiuto) is from the same period; likewise the church connected to the Capuchin convent (inside is a canvas by Filippo Paladino from 1607); the church of the Minori Osservanti holds a Madonna col Bambino by Antonello Gagini (1527). Vizzini was made famous by Giovanni Verga, who set his novel Mastro don Gesualdo and various novellas and plays here. The eighteenth-century building that belonged to the Verga family is in Piazza Umberto I. There is a "Verga Tour" for visitors and, in summer, dramatic productions taken from the writer's works are given in the streets of the town.

Provincial Tourism Board of Catania
http://www.apt-catania.com
E-mail : apt@apt-catania.com