Calatabiano

Culture, Tipical places
- 95011 Calatabiano
095 7771011

Spend a relaxing day in the beautiful beach of St. Marco: sea at Etna feet.

The city of Calatabiano is bordered to the north by the River Alcantara Park and to the south by the River Fiumefreddo Reserve and has ancient origins. The first inhabitants were the Siculans during the first millennium b.C.
The first colonizers from Calcide arrived from Greece in 725 b.C. In 902 a.C. the Arabs conquered the area, settling in the fort on top of the hill, which had probably been built around 425 b.C. Under Arab domination the village around the castle expanded to become a very important agricultural town. It was in this period that the castle took the name of Kalata-bian, from Kalata – castle and Bian – the name of the officer who occupied the fort. The area and its castle remained under Arab domination for about two centuries. In 1079 the castle was conquered by the Normans who rebuilt it in the form that has been almost completely preserved up to the present day. In 1272 Calatabiano fell to the Angevins and then later to the Aragonese. Terrible earthquakes in 1669 and 1693 put the inhabitants of the castle to flight and the town was rebuilt at the foot of the hill. In 1813 Calatabiano became an autonomous commune.

The Castle of Calatabiano, which rises from the hill that overlooks the town, is certainly a symbolic monument, but the town also offers architectural delights such as the church of SS. Crocifisso (1484) and the church of Maria SS Annunziato (1740) which is decorated with splendid frescoes, precious paintings and excellent works of art such as the Baroque-style altar, the XVIII century wooden pulpit and presbytery and the XVI century wooden Crucifix painted by Giovanni Salvo d’Antonio, nephew of Antonello di Messina.

In Piazza V. Emanuele stands the majestic XVII century statue of Saint Catherine and a short distance away the splendid lava stone portal of the privately-owned Palazzo Gravina, built by the Gravina family at the end of the XVII century. The same family also constructed another historical building, again privately-owned, Saint Mark’s Castle (Castello San Marco) with the church of Sant’Antonio da Padova (1697) next door. The church of Gesù e Maria, in the quarter of the same name, dates from 1695 and contains four valuable paintings, recently restored to their original splendour, and a very interesting majolica floor.

On the coast, the greatest tourist attraction is undoubtedly the beautiful 3-kilometre-long Calatabiano beach.

The area around Calatabiano provides the perfect habitat for the medlar, a typical crop, which thrives here. The Calatabiano medlar is a very particular, specific niche product.