Castelvetrano - Castelvetrano

Castelvetrano is a city of Sicily.

To know

Geographical notes

The territory of Castelvetrano is crossed by three rivers, the Belice, the Modione and the Delia River, the latter through a dam, by means of an earth dam, creates Lake Trinità. It extends from the hilly hinterland to the sandy coast where the two seaside villages are located.

When to go

Climate	gen	Feb	mar	apr	mag	down	Jul	needle	set	Oct	nov	dec
Maximum (° C)	13,8	14	15,5	18,1	22,2	26,1	29	29,2	26,6	22,5	18,4	15,1
Minimum (° C)	7,7	7,8	8,8	10,6	13,7	17,5	20,1	20,6	18,8	15,6	12,3	9,2
Precipitation (mm)	64	53	45	45	18	6	3	10	34	70	71	75

The city and the corresponding coastal strip enjoy the typical Mediterranean climate, with rather mild winters and hot summers.

Background

The city was founded before 1200 and mentioned for the first time in 1299 as the property of the Lords of Tagliavia (later Tagliavia - Aragona), in 1522 Castelvetrano became a county and in 1564 principality, the population was again decimated by an epidemic of plague around to 1600. Today the city is characterized by the surrounding agriculture (olives, viticulture) and by a certain industry, besides tourism it is also an important center of the economy.

How to orient yourself

With its Corso (with numerous shops), Castelvetrano is a pretty, relatively quiet Sicilian town that invites you to stroll.

From the city gate in Via Garibaldi, head towards the central squares. The city center, with Garibaldi Square and the squares connected to Piazza d'Aragona and Taglivia is Piazza Umberto I (the system of squares), is a pedestrian area, most of the shops are located in Via Vittorio Emanuele.

Fractions

• Marinella - was born at the end of the nineteenth century as a fishing port, today it is an important tourist-seaside center. The inhabited area develops between the archaeological park of Selinunte and the natural reserve Mouth of the Belice River and neighboring dunes.
• Triscina - was born in the second half of the twentieth century and extends over a long sandy coast, today it is a seaside resort active mainly in the summer.

How to get

By car

From Palermo the city can be reached by in about an hour, from Trapani the fastest route is via the motorway until Alcamo and further south on (direction Mazara del Vallo). A less rapid alternative is the , which from Alcamo, via Santa Ninfa, leads to the center of Castelvetrano.

From Marsala is Mazara del Vallo from the west and from Sciacca - Agrigento - Gela - Syracuse , Castelvetrano is located on the coast road of the .

On the train

• 37.6836812.798771 Castelvetrano station, piazza Amendola. Located on the Alcamo Diramazione-Castelvetrano-Trapani line.  

By bus

Bus lines also leave from the train station Trapani (with AST), Palermo (Salemi Autoservizi) is Agrigento (Lumia bus lines).

How to get around

The historic center can be explored on foot without major problems.

By public transport

There are three urban lines that guarantee connections between the city and the bogate:

• Castelvetrano-Marinella di Selinunte bus line
• Castelvetrano-Triscina bus line
• Triscina-Marinella di Selinunte bus line

What see

Churches

• 37.67910812.7922751 Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta (mother church), piazzale Carlo d'Aragona. Built between 1520 and 1560 by the will of Giovan Vincenzo Tagliavia, "I Conte di Castelvetrano". The church has a Norman basilica with three naves, the portal is decorated with arabesques of medieval taste. It houses a wooden cover of the baptismal font by Pietro di Giato (1610), a marble statue of the Madonna del Giglio (from the Gagini school) and the underlying crypt of the clergy in the main nave.  
• 37.67715412.79442 Church of San Domenico, piazza Regina Margherita, ☎ 39 3332834482. Mon-Sun 10: 00-12: 00. Erected in 1470, it stands as the mausoleum of the Aragona-Tagliavia family. Of great value are the main altar chapel and the choir chapel, decorated by Antonio Ferraro da Giuliana and his son Orazio. Inside the church is the marble tomb of Prince Charles of Aragon Tagliavia. The stucco Tree of Jesse represents the genealogical tree that starting from Jesse, father of King David, schematizes the descendants leading to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Due to its expressive power, the church is sometimes also called the Sistine Chapel of Sicily.  

• 37.67695212.7933413 Church of San Giovanni Battista, Piazza Regina Margherita of Savoy. Built in 1589, it has three naves and a long transept, with two rows of columns connected at the top by round arches. After the fire of 1898, which destroyed the original frescoes, the church was re-frescoed by the painter Gennaro Pardo (1900-1901). Inside there is the marble statue of San Giovanni Battista made in 1521 by the sculptor Antonello Gagini.  

• 37.68583312.7547224 Church of the Holy Trinity of Delia (Cuba of Delia) (west of Castelvetrano, a few kilometers from the city). It is a small Norman church, modeled on Byzantine Cuba, whose construction dates back to the first half of the 12th century. The church is characterized on the outside by three visibly pronounced apses that develop on the eastern side, ideally connecting to the three entrance doors of the structure. Of these, the lateral ones were strictly reserved for men who, entering them, took their places in the corresponding aisles, while the central door was intended for women who, in full compliance with the Greek rite, took part in it remaining in a portion delimited by wooden barriers. At the center of the structure rises a raised sixth dome resting on a square drum lightened by four side windows and supported in turn by pointed arches that are grafted onto four columns of cipollino marble and red granite equipped with capitals decorated with leaves acanthus. The arms of the cross are barrel vaulted while the corner crossings are closed by crosses.  
• 37.67965612.7872175 Church of Maria SS. Annunziata, Via Ruggero VII, ☎ 39 0924932248. The modern church built in 1990-91, develops preserving the remains of the pre-existing building, from 1259-60, which collapsed in 1968 due to the Belice earthquake. The modern structure is made of reinforced concrete with a wooden roof, preserving the ancient monumental entrance and the baptismal font. Among the main attractions and services offered by this place of worship we remember the San Vito Oratory directed by Giovanna and Musumeci. 

• 37.67853412.7918626 Church of the Purgatory, Piazza Carlo D'Aragona, 1. Construction began in 1642 by order of the Prince of Castelvetrano Diego Pignatelli Aragona, in fact it stands in front of his family palace. The interior (now used as an auditorium), with three naves divided by columns, is richly decorated with stuccoes and frescoes. 
• 37.68080612.7905967 Church of San Giuseppe, Piazza Diodoro Siculo, 2. The construction of the church began in 1616 and was completed in 1646. Today of the church you can only admire the apse with the main altar and the bell tower, as, after the Belice earthquake, both the convent and the church were demolished. 
• 37.68423912.7883518 Church of Maria SS. of health, Piazzale Santa Maria della Sanità, 1. Built in 1622 by the Augustinian fathers. 
• 37.68416112.7963149 Church of San Francesco di Paola, Piazza S. Josè Maria Escrivà, ☎ 39 092481455. 
• 37.6787712.7915610 Church of Saints Peter and Paul. the church consecrated in 1653 by Stefania Aragona Cortes and Mendoza, was restored in 2007. 
• 37.6764312.7917811 Church of S. Agostino, Garibaldi Street. it was built in 1565/70, today an audiovisual show is projected on the ancient Selinunte. 
• 37.6795412.7950712 Church of Sant'Antonio Abate. with a statue of Orazio Ferraro from 1600. 
• 37.67846512.79472913 Church of the Agonizzanti. With a particular triangular plan, in which the condemned to death could spend the last hours, it is adorned with frescoes from 1750. 

Palaces

• 37.67853212.79151914 Palazzo Pignatelli Aragona Tagliavia Cortes, Piazza Carlo D'Aragona. Built on the pre-existing castle of Bellumvider (13th century) of which an angular tower and the foundations of a median tower, both octagonal in shape, are still visible. The castle has undergone numerous changes until it assumed the current appearance of a baroque palace. In the 1600s one of the towers of the castle was dismantled and replaced by the Collegiate Church of Saints Peter and Paul, together with the Palatine Chapel, unique examples in Sicily of a church on the upper floor; in the same period another building joined by a covered passage was built, which was the seat of the Government and today of the Town Hall. 
• Signorelli Palace. Made in Art Nouveau style in the second half of the 1800s. 
• Piccione Frangipane Palace, via Bonsignore. built in the 17th century, in Baroque style. 
• Quidera-Polito Palace. Dating back to the seventeenth century. 
• Venuti Palace, Piazza Principe di Piemonte. It is another example of nineteenth-century civil architecture, it can be recognized by the loggia façade that adapts to the corner shape of the block. 

Museums

• 37.67642312.79163815 Selinuntino Civic Museum, Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, 50, ☎ 39 0924909605. Mon-Sun 9: 00-13: 00, Mon-Sat 15: 00-18: 30. It collects numerous archaeological finds of considerable historical and artistic value, found in the Selinunte area, among the finds certainly stands out the Efebo di Selinunte, a bronze statue dating back to the fifth century BC. 
• 37.67882112.79247716 Museum of peasant civilization "Francesco Simanella", Piazza Camillo Benso Count of Cavour, 3. 

Other

• 37.67940412.7920917 Fountain of the Nymph, Via Filippo Cordova. Built in 1615, it has a vertical development of about 10 meters with four overlapping basins and an upper niche containing a Nymph. 
• 37.68679312.79795218 Remembrance Park, Viale Roma. 
• 37.67342712.79188319 Porta Garibaldi (Sea Gate), Garibaldi Street. The work was built in 1626 by the will of the Aragona-Tagliavia family. Of monumental size, it presents a sober mannerist elegance with tuff frames. First called "Porta di Mare" because, starting from this gate, you reached the coast of Selinunte, then it was renamed "Porta di San Francesco d'Assisi" and finally "Porta Garibaldi", on the occasion of the arrival of a thousand in Castelvetrano. 

Outside the built-up area

• 37.66327112.89059620 Castle of the stone (east of Castelvetrano). 

Events and parties

• Lu Nannu and the Nanna. carnival. Parade in the city center of the wagon known as "Lu Nannu e la Nanna" (grandfather and grandmother). This grotesquely and amusingly depicts two elderly people on a chariot, and is often accompanied by other smaller chariots. On Ash Wednesday the testament is read (in rhyme and in Castelvetranese dialect) with the bequests to the various most prominent characters of the city, and then they are burned to decree the end of the carnival. 
• The Aurora. Easter morning. Religious rite to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. In the Piazza del Duomo, the meeting of the risen Christ with the Virgin still in mourning is represented. An Angel three times brings the good news to the incredulous Madonna. Finally, the meeting between the Mother and the Son takes place, a mechanism makes Mary's arms open, the black cloak falls while a flight of doves is released in the sky. 
• Historical parade of Santa Rita and the Castelvetranese Nobility. third Sunday of May. The historical parade of Santa Rita was born in the nineties. Over the years, the procession has increasingly freed itself from the characteristics of a religious event to develop spectacularity and historical fidelity: today the procession is a theatrical event. 

What to do

• 37.67310412.7904631 Paolo Marino Stadium, Via Marsala. 
• 37.59142612.7649042 Triscina International Circuit, Contrada Manicalunga, Triscina, ☎ 39 3292073821. Go-kart track 

Shopping

How to have fun

Shows

• 37.67827212.7918211 Selinus Theater, Piazza Carlo D'Aragona, 7, ☎ 39 0924907612. Work designed by the architect Giuseppe Patricolo. Work on the construction of the theater began in 1873 and in 1908 it hosted its first performance. The theater is in neoclassical style with Doric columns that recall the architectural style of the temples of Selinunte. Particular attention deserves the canvas of the curtain depicting "Empedocle among the Selinuntini", made by Gennaro Pardo. 
• 37.5848112.8044872 Franco Franchi Municipal Theater - Ciccio Ingrassia, Via 25, 1, Triscina. Open-air theater. 

Where to eat

The olive oil it is considered the gold of Castelvetrano being particularly valuable, the olives are still hand-picked from the old trees and the oil is obviously cold-pressed. It carries the protected designation of origin Nocellara del Belice PDO.

Castelvetrano black bread: black bread made from wholemeal flour and local variety tuminìa, in the shape of a round loaf, it is baked in a wood oven. Unlike the usual bread, it should keep for 7 days.

Belicino cheese produced with sheep's milk from Valle del Belice and Nocellara del Belice olive (DOP).

Moderate prices

• 37.6645212.8118941 Buscaino pastry shop, Via Vittorio Emanuele, 158, ☎ 39 092445342. Excellent Sicilian ice creams and sweets such as cannoli, marzipan and cakes. 

Where stay

Safety

• 37.67389512.7966782 Vittorio Emanuele II Hospital of Castelvetrano, Via Marinella.  

How to keep in touch

Keep informed

• Castelvetrano Selinunte online newspaper
• Kleos, monthly of the Belice Valley

Around

• Selinunte - The archaeological park of Selinunte, the largest in Europe. Ancient Greek city where the city walls, the main streets with houses, temples and sanctuaries are still visible.
• Mouth of the Belice River Nature Reserve and neighboring dunes

Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Castelvetrano
• Commons contains images or other files on Castelvetrano

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