Niscemi - Niscemi

Niscemi is a city of Sicily.

To know

How to orient yourself

The urban layout of the municipality of Niscemi dates back to the second half of the 17th century and is characterized by an orthogonal grid that develops around Piazza Vittorio Emanuele III, where there are two blocks missing and where the most prestigious monuments and buildings of the city overlook. The main axes of the city branched off from the square, in the north-south and east-west directions. The original urban layout of Niscemi has a regular checkerboard pattern with plug-in blocks.

How to get

On the train

• 37.145214.40341 Niscemi station. Since May 2011, the railway connections between the Niscemi station and the Caltagirone and Gela stations have been suspended following the interruption of the Niscemi-Caltagirone section due to the collapse of the arch of a viaduct.  

By bus

The only public transport is the bus, managed by a private transport company: there is only one line, whose main stop is in via XX Settembre, near Piazza Vittorio Emanuele III.

How to get around

By car

On public holidays, traffic is usually minimal and it is perhaps possible to park near the main square.

• 37.1447514.38512 Timed parking, via Regina Marcherita. 

What see

Religious architectures

• 37.1456814.385031 Church of Santa Maria D'Itria, piazza Vittorio Emanuele III, ☎ 39 0933 951007. Rebuilt after the earthquake of 1693 starting from 1742 with the contribution of the population and under the direction of the Messina architect Giuseppe La Rosa, it is a Latin cross church with a central lantern, has four side niches with the statues of the evangelists John and Mark and the apostles Peter and Paul. The facade is incomplete in the terminal pediment. The interior was decorated between 1863 and 1864.  

• 37.1451114.384912 Church of the Addolorata, Vittorio Emanuele square, ☎ 39 0935 680113. Founded in 1753, on the site of a rustic aedicula, by the Calatine architect Silvestro Giugliara. Its architecture develops around a central space in the shape of an elongated octagon with a single nave with an arched portal. Outside it exhibits a refined eighteenth-century façade of Baroque Sicily. The façade has a convexity emphasized by the four pilasters, concluded by the wavy profile of the crowning of the belfry connected to the factory by elegant scrolls. A stone exhibit frames the entrance portal and the window above. Under the floor level there is a crypt with an altar, the dryers, ossuaries and burials reserved in the past for the brothers and sisters of the SS. Crucifix.  

• 37.1446914.386253 Church of Sant'Antonio da Padova, Via Bellini, 69. Also rebuilt after the earthquake, starting in 1746, it was restored in the twentieth century. It is a church with a single nave, with a rectangular plan, with a bell tower (unusually placed in the rear side of the building) and an attached sacristy. The facade is in smooth plaster, with a terminal gable in the form of a small triangular pediment. The portal in stone ashlars is decorated in bas-relief. An imposing organ was installed in 1810 on a mezzanine built above the entrance door.  
• 37.14539814.3840074 Maria SS. of Grace, West of Piazza Vittorio Emanuele III. Built in 1773, it was saved from abandonment in 1947. It was built on the remains of a primitive rustic church of the feudal Niscemi by the will of Baron Iacona with the consent of Prince Ercole Michele Branciforte. The façade was completed in the 19th century and is divided into three orders, the last of which houses the belfry and the second an aedicule with the statue of San Gaetano. The interior has a single nave, with barrel vaults and rich, typically Baroque fresco decoration. It is referred to, albeit inappropriately, as the Church of Santa Lucia.  

• 37.1525714.384385 Sanctuary Maria SS. del Bosco, Via Madonna. It stands on the remains of a small chapel destroyed by the earthquake. It was built between 1749 and 1758 under the direction of the master builder and architect Silvestro Gugliara. The church has a single nave with an elongated elliptical plan, the facade is in Baroque style and presents a balanced composure and sobriety in the decorations. The church preserves in a small niche the stones consisting of two candlesticks and the base that supported the cross, found, according to tradition, in 1599 on the occasion of the discovery of the painting of the Madonna. The main altar depicts angels who, guided by the hand of God, hold the sacred painting of the Madonna in the gesture of carrying it towards the source of the discovery. Behind the altarpiece, a niche holds a copa of the picture, the work of a monk from Caltagirone, because the original work was lost in a fire in 1769 while it was in the church of Santa Maria d'Itria. The two side altars are dedicated to San Benedetto and San Giovanni Nepomuceno. The crypt below preserves the well with the vein of water in which, it is said, the sacred veil with the image of the Madonna was found: indicated as the Chapel of the Holy Water, since 1998 it has also been a baptistery.  

• 37.1444414.387916 Church of San Giuseppe, Via Vincenzo Crescimone. Built thanks to the voluntary contribution of the entire population, with stone and lime obtained from local quarries. The facade is simple, single-order and has a sober elegance. The plant is rectangular with a single nave. Long neglected, in 1986 Don Giuseppe Giugno, with the voluntary contribution of many citizens, started the renovation works.  
• 37.1479614.385427 Anime del Purgatorio church, Via Purgatorio. It has a plant in the shape of a large turtle arranged in a west-north-west direction. The roof rests on full arches supported by eight single Tuscan-style columns with a base and plinth placed in a perfect circle inside the single circular nave.  
• Holy Crosses Church. Built on the site where a small chapel without an altar previously stood, it was equipped with a small cemetery. It was damaged by the earthquake that struck Niscemi in 1790. The landslide of October 1997 seriously damaged the building in such a way as to require its demolition, which took place a few years later. The main altar was dedicated to the Crucifix and was made of white marble with relief designs in the Baroque style and inlays in colored marble. The other two altars were respectively dedicated to Sant'Alfonso dei Liquori and to Santa Rita da Cace. 

• Church of the Madonna dello Spasimo. Located at the southern entrance of the town, it was founded with the generous contribution and active commitment of several people. The façade of the church is very simple, but harmonious and lively, enclosed by the lateral pilasters that contain the central portal in well-worked local stone with a round arch. 

• 37.15176214.384578 Church of San Francesco, Via Madonna. Built between 1732 and 1739, it is characterized by a single room with a barrel vault and a cross presbytery. 
• 37.1517314.38489 Convent of San Francesco, Martyrs of Nassiryia square. Today the seat of the civil hospital, it preserves the original quadrilateral cloister, a central well and is characterized by the presence of a succession of arches supported by Ionic columns.  
• 37.1457814.4152110 Church of San Giuseppe d'Atanasio, contrada Pilacane (about two kilometers from the town). Built in 1915, it is characterized by a severe neoclassical style in terracotta.  

Civil architectures

• 37.145314.3853811 City Palace, Vittorio Emanuele square. Built on a previous building used as a municipal chancellery, it was designed by the architect Rosario Crescimone and built by the Barbagallo brothers. It looks like a compact and well-defined block, sober and balanced, with a three-arched portico. All the decorations on the façade were made of Pilacane stone.  
• 37.14508914.38320312 Branciforte Palace, Largo Malerba 4. Built in 1824 it is the oldest surviving civil building. It was built by Margherita Branciforte, Duchess of Mondragone, who arrived in Niscemi in 1821. It is well defined, characterized by corner pilasters and smooth perimeter walls in shapeless stones. 
• 37.14398214.38489713 Masaracchio Palace, via Regina Margherita. Built in 1840. It is characterized by a facade marked by a single order of pilasters on high plinths, balconies supported by corbels with phytomorphic decoration and a frieze on the entrance door. 

• 37.14452214.3849314 Malerba Palace, via Regina Margherita. Built in 1835. Today only the northern facade is present, as the part of the building that protruded onto Via Regina Margherita was demolished in 1966 to create a parking lot. 
• 37.1454914.3821115 Belvedere terrace (Tunnu). The Belvedere Terrace is a panoramic terrace, built in 1803, which offers a magnificent view of the Gela plain and the valley of the Maroglio river. It was built in the Baroque style, at the beginning of the 19th century, and is rounded in shape surrounded by wrought iron banisters and benches. It represents the final destination of the walk in the historic center. It was rebuilt in 1921 following the injuries sustained during a landslide. From the terrace you can enjoy an exceptional view over the Piana di Gela. Gela and its industrial complex are clearly visible.  
• 37.154914.38616 Monumental cemetery.  
• Civic Museum, At the Church of San Francesco. 4€. Tue, Thu, Sat and Sun 9: 00-13: 00 and 16: 00-18: 00. The museum contains finds previously kept respectively in the former Museum of Rural Life now permanently closed. A section of the museum catalogs the pieces from the former Didactic Museum of Natural History, which is also closed today, in order to make known the geographical and naturalistic aspects of the central-southern Sicily area. 

Events and parties

• Carnival. Parade of allegorical floats with the involvement of the schools of Niscemi and masked groups. 
• Feast of St. Joseph. March 18-19. On the occasion of the celebrations, devout families set up the codiddetti avutari that is tables set with dishes of all kinds and adorned with representations of the saint. 
• Artichoke Festival. April. 
• Feast of Maria SS. Del Bosco. May 21. Patronal feast. 
• Feast of the Madonna. second Sunday of August. 
• Feast of Saint Lucia. 13 December. 

What to do

Shopping

How to have fun

Where to eat

Moderate prices

• 37.14553914.3847751 La Bussola Bar, Vittorio Emanuele square, ☎ 39 0933 954502. Main square bar. 
• 37.14554714.384262 KOALA ice cream shop, Via IV Novembre, 16, ☎ 39 333 249 2811. 

Where stay

Safety

• 37.1521314.3848973 Hospital, Martyrs of Nassiryia square, ☎ 39 0933 880111. 

How to keep in touch

Around

• Mansio, contrada Petrusa (on the slopes of Niscemi). Site of late ancient times where the stamps on the amphora were found Praedia Galbana, farms that belonged to the state and that ration warehouses were set up inside them. There remain the remains of a rest stop from the imperial age, managed by the state for travelers. Next to the mansio stood a station for the changing of horses. It is thought that there was an ancient road, which led to the Piano Camera district, another archaeological area. Recent archaeological excavations have also brought to light a thermal complex. 
• 37.11078214.4436784 MUOS antennas. Military transmission system with high frequency antennas. Since 2011, the radio station has been the subject of protests by the population of Niscemi, worried about the expansion of the base, which is located inside the Sughereta di Niscemi nature reserve, and whose possible harmful effects of electromagnetic radiation from the new ground stations of the MUOS could impact the health of local wildlife and the inhabitants themselves.  
• Sughereta di Niscemi nature reserve
• Bosco di Santo Pietro oriented nature reserve

Useful information

• 37.1454814.3836795 Pro loco Niscemi, Via IV Novembre, 4 (c / o Municipal Library “M. Gori "), ☎ 393201840759, @[email protected]. 

Other projects

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

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