Scicli
The city of Scicli has a very ancient origin, it probably dates back to the Sicilian period, over 3000 years ago. Its name, according to some researchers, comes from Šiclis, one of the names used to indicate the Sicels, the famous people of the sea.
It has been handed down to several peoples, even dating back to the Enelotic period (between the Copper Age and the Ancient Bronze Age) as evidenced by the findings of the Grotta Maggiore; after it was occupied by the Greeks, by the Romans, and it was under the Arab domination that Scicli experienced a period of considerable agricultural and commercial development. Later, the Norman army led by Roger D'Altavilla defeated the Arabs. This episode is linked to the legend of Our Lady of the Militia – religious event celebrated every year in the month of May -: it is said that the final battle against the Saracens took place in 1091 and it was won by the Christians thanks to the intervention of the Virgin Mary, appeared on a white horse, in defense of Scicli.
Today we can see all these influences in the different characteristics of the palaces, even if the predominant style is the baroque. It was after the terrible earthquake of 1693 that destroyed a large part of the city, that Scicli was reborn in Baroque style.
Scicli is rich in squares, churches, palaces and monuments. Here there is a small list of what it is worth to visit:
- The entire area of Via Francesco Mormino Penna has been included in the World Heritage List by UNESCO; here there are buildings dating back from the XVII to the XX century, they are all characterized by the local limestone that makes the context visually homogeneous: Beneventano Palace represents a masterpiece of the late Baroque age; the Town Hall, used as Vigata police station in the fiction "The inspector Montalbano"; the majestic San Giovanni Evangelista Church with its elegant concave-convex facade.
- Piazza Italia: it is one of the most important urban nodes of the city and it is also the largest square. In this area there are many eighteenth-century sites: Fava Palace, the Jesuit College's Church (S. Ignazio), Iacono Palace, Mormina Penna Palace.
- Piazza Busacca: it was designed at the end of the 19th century and it hosts the important Busacca Palace.
- San Matteo Church: it is located on the top of the hill, it can only be reached on foot. It was the ancient Mother Church of Scicli. This latter can be visited only from the outside because it is closed and unsafe.
- San Bartolomeo Church: it is characterized by a solemn facade that stands next to the limestone cliffs.
- Santa Maria La Nova Church: it is the most impressive church in the city, it rises at the base of the massive limestone wall of a quarry, in the most well-preserved urban environment in the city.
- Chiafura Caves: they are caves that were used as houses by the poorest classes of the city until the mid-fifties of the last century; they are divided in groups (seven levels) from the top to the bottom, without a pre-established order. Today there is a cultural and touristic recovery project, as they are considered an outdoor ethnographic museum.
