Page 99 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sicily

NOR THWESTERN SICIL Y  97

6 Gangi
Road map D3. * 7,000. @ 51 km
(32 miles) from Cefalù. n Piazzetta
Zoppo di Gangi (0921-501 471). _
Sagra della Spiga (2nd Sun Aug).
This town lies on the south-
western slope of Monte Marone,
facing the Nebrodi and Madonie
mountains. The birthplace of
painters Gaspare Vazano and
Giuseppe Salerno has retained
its medieval character, with
winding streets and steps
connecting the different levels.
The towering Chiesa Madre has
a 14th-century bell tower and a
lovely Last Judgment by Salerno,
inspired by Michelangelo’s
painting in the Sistine Chapel.
7 Petralia Sottana
Panoramic view from the Norman castle at Sperlinga (c.1100) Road map D3. * 3,800. @ 98 km
(61 miles) from Palermo. n Town hall,
5 Sperlinga Angevin rulers, who managed Corso Agliata (0921-684 311/ 641 811).
to resist attacks for a year. The _ Ballo della Cordella, dance (1st Sun
Road map D3. * 900. @ 47 km after 15 Aug); San Calogero procession
(29 miles) from Enna. n 0935-643 events are commemo rated by (18 Jun); Festa dei Sapori Madoniti,
372/643 221. _ Sagra del Tortone an inscription in the vestibule: artisan foods (last weekend Oct).
(16 Aug). Quod Siculis placuit sola Sperlinga
negavit (“Sperlinga alone denied
Sperlinga seems to have been the Sicilians what they desired”). Perched on a rock 1,000 m
pushed against a spectacular The numerous chambers in the (3,300 ft) up, and nestled at the
rock face, its parallel streets on castle make it a veritable stone foot of the tallest peaks in the
different levels connected by labyrinth. After passing the Madonie mountains, Petralia
steps. In the eastern section, remains of a drawbridge, a moat Sottana is laid out around Via
right up against the sandstone and the Sala del Principe (Prince’s Agliata, which ends in Piazza
cliff, numerous troglodytic Hall), visitors will find stables, a Umberto I, opposite the Chiesa
cave dwellings have been forge, a prison, cereal silos, Madre. The late Gothic church,
carved out. Until the mid-1960s reservoirs to collect rainwater partially rebuilt in the 1600s,
many of them were inhabited, and the foundry (hewn entirely contains a fine wooden triptych,
but some of them are now an out of the rock). In the middle of The Virgin Mary and Child between
ethno graphic museum. During the cliff is San Domenico Chapel, Saints Peter and Paul. An arch
Norman rule, inhabitants which was rebuilt on its own connects the bell tower with
from Northern Italy and the ruins. An impressive flight of stairs the Santissima Trinità, which
south of France settled here, leads to the top of the rock, with has a marble altarpiece by
and for this reason residents magnificent views. Domenico Gagini.
today speak a strange dialect
called Galloitalico.
T Norman Castle
Via Castello. Tel 0935-643 025. Open
Apr–Sep: 9am–1:30pm, 3–7pm; Oct–
Mar: 9am–1pm, 2–6pm. Museum:
Open as for the castle. & 8
∑ castellodisperlinga.it
Sperlinga’s castle was built by the
Normans under Roger I around
the year 1100 on the top of an
impregnable rock face. It was
later reinforced by Frederick II. It is
linked with the Sicilian Vespers
revolt (see pp36–7) in 1282, when
it was the last refuge of the Petralia Sottana, in the middle of the verdant Valle dell’Imera

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