Page 126 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sicily

124  SICIL Y AREA B Y AREA

7 Prizzi
Road map C3. * 5,200.
n Town hall, Corso Umberto I 64
(091-834 46 11).
The slopes of wind-blown
Mount Prizzi, overlooking
the surrounding valleys, have
been inhabited since ancient
times. There was once a
fortified Arab town here, but
present-day Prizzi mostly
reflects the influence of the
Middle Ages. The maze of
alleys winding up the slopes
to the summit (960 m/3,150 ft)
is crowned by the ruins of
the medieval castle. Along
the narrow streets you will
see San Rocco, a large stretch
of open space with Santa
Maria delle Grazie, and the
18th-century Chiesa Madre,
dedicated to St George and
bearing a fine statue of the
Archangel Michael.

8 Cammarata
Road map C3. * 6,500. V from
The façade of San Nicolò, in the upper part of Palazzo Adriano
Palermo & Agrigento. n Town hall,
6 Palazzo Adriano Our Lady of the Assumption); via Roma (0922-907 233).
and Santa Maria del Lume, The earliest historical records
Road map C3. * 2,300. n Pro Loco,
Piazza Umberto I (091-834 99 01/28). which is Catholic and was for this town date from the
founded in the 18th century. Norman period, when Roger I
Almost 700 m (2,296 ft) above In the middle of the square, donated the fief to Lucia de
sea level, on the ridge of bordered by Palazzo Dara, Cammarata. The Chiesa Madre,
Cozzo Braduscia, is Palazzo now the Town Hall, and San Nicolò di Bari, and the
Adriano, founded in the Palazzo Mancuso, there is a Dominican monastery, whose
mid-15th century by Albanian lovely octagonal fountain church was rebuilt in the 1930s,
refugees who had fled from sculpted in 1607. Further up are all worth a visit. But the
their Turkish conquerors. the hill, in the oldest part of fascination of Cammarata lies
Central Piazza Umberto I Palazzo Adriano, the red dome in the overall layout: a labyrinth
boasts two important churches: of the 15th-century San Nicolò of alleys and steps – narrow
the Greek Orthodox Santa overlooks the alleyways of or wide, depending on the
Maria Assunta, built in the this quarter, which were natural slope of the rock –
16th century and then rebuilt built around the castle that offering an unforget table view
(the interior has a lovely stood here before the town of the valleys below this
iconostasis and an icon of was founded. medieval hill town.
Cinema Paradiso
In 1989 the film Cinema Paradiso, by the Sicilian director Giuseppe
Tornatore (see p28), won an Oscar for the best foreign film. The
film tells the story of the arrival of cinema (the “Nuovo Cinema
Paradiso”) in an isolated village in Sicily and the effect the big
screen has on the main character, a young boy. Cinema Paradiso
was filmed in the streets and squares of Palazzo Adriano and used
many of the locals as extras, conferring fame on the village. The
weeks the film unit and the inhabitants of Palazzo Adriano spent
working together are commemorated on a majolica plaque on a The plaque commemorating the filming of
corner of Piazza Umberto I. Cinema Paradiso

For hotels and restaurants in this region see p203 and pp213–14

124-125_EW_Sicily.indd 124 11/3/16 2:09 PM
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.6)
Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm