Page 98 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sicily

96  SICIL Y AREA B Y AREA

3 Santo Stefano and a crucifix known as
di Camastra Father of Mercy. From here
you can go up to the Castle,
Road map D2. * 4,500. V Messina– with its Norman drawbridge
Palermo. n Town hall (0921-331 and the remains of the keep.
127/110). _ Easter Week.
At the foot of the castle is
This town facing the Tyr rhenian the Norman Basilica of San
Sea is one of the leading Sicilian Michele, with its austere
centres for the production of apses and majestic 15th-
ceramics. All the local craftsmen century bell towers.
have their wares on display:
vases, jugs, cornices and tiles R Cathedral
with period designs, and there Piazza Garibaldi 38. Open Call 0935-
is a ceramics museum in the 646 792 for hours.
Palazzo Trabia. In the centre The cathedral is dedicated to
of town stands the Chiesa the town’s patron saint, San
Madre, or San Nicolò, with a Nicolò. It was founded in the
Renaissance doorway and late The Villa Comunale, Santo Stefano di 14th century and partially
18th-century stucco decoration Camastra, with a tiled altar rebuilt in the 19th century.
in the interior. What remains of the original
Nicolò Cathedral and old structure are the 14th-century
buildings, including the current façade, with porticoes running
4 Nicosia Town Hall. The Salita Salomone along the left-hand side, and
steps lead to Romanesque the bell tower with three
Road map D3. * 14,000. @ 129 km
(80 miles) from Catania, 44 km (27 miles) San Salvatore. There is a sections, each distin guished
from Enna. n Town hall, Piazza fine view of the old by a different style, from
Garibaldi (0935-672 111). _ Easter town from the porch. Arab to Romanesque.
Week, O’ Scontro (Easter), Macaroni The church has a The rebuilt interior
Festival (May), Palio (2nd week Aug), series of sundials has a crucifix
Nicosia da Vivere Festival (Jul–Sep). which, according attributed to Fra
to tradition, were Umile de Petralia
Sprawled over four hills, Nicosia once used as the and a font by
is dominated by the ruins of an town’s “clocks”. Via Antonello Gagini,
Arab-Norman castle. Originally Salomone, lined while the choir was
a Byzantine settlement, the with aristocratic carved out of solid
town was re populated in the palazzi, leads up walnut by local
Norman era by Lombard and to Santa Maria artists. The vault,
Piedmontese colonists, who Maggiore, just frescoed in the 19th
have left traces of their local under the castle Detail of the ceiling of century, conceals a
dialects. The many churches rock. The doorway Nicosia’s Cathedral fine Norman truss
and patrician mansions are a is decorated with ceiling decorated in
sign of the town’s former splen- pagan statues of Jove, Venus brilliant colours with scenes
dour. Narrow streets and alleys and Ceres. In the interior is from the lives of the saints,
run up the hills, often providing Charles V’s throne, in memory hunting scenes, images of wild
spectacular panoramic views. of the emperor’s visit here animals, a number of human
Piazza Garibaldi is the heart of in 1535, a gilded marble heads, stylized flowers and
Nicosia, with the Gothic San altarpiece by Antonello Gagini geometric decorative motifs.

Nicosia, perched on a hill and once crucial to the area’s defensive network
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp202–3 and pp211–13

096-097_EW_Sicily.indd 96 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