| Scicli | ||
 | ||
| State | Italy | |
|---|---|---|
| Region | Sicily | |
| Territory | Ragusano | |
| Inhabitants | 27.101 (2017) | |
| Name inhabitants | sciclitans | |
| Prefix tel | 39 0932 | |
| POSTAL CODE | 97018 | |
| Time zone | UTC 1 | |
Position
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| Institutional website | ||
Scicli is a city in the province of Ragusa.
To know
The city is surrounded by three hills, under the limestone cliffs that seem to protect it. On clear days an incomparable spectacle is offered, a city lying in the valley like a stream of houses. Down, on the horizon, you can see one of the bluest seas in the Mediterranean, which closes this unique and serene setting. Going down, after going through seven hairpin bends, you arrive at the center in Piazza Italia. From here looking up on the right we see an imposing limestone cliff on which San Matteo stands the ancient Mother Church of the ancient city, behind San Matteo we can see the remains of what was the Castle of the Three Cantons, while placed on the hill next to it we can admire the Convent of the Cross. The panorama that can be enjoyed from up there cannot be described, one has the sensation of dominating the whole territory without effort.
Background
The city of Scicli was founded by Siculus, king of the Sicilians. The origin of its name comes from the second century BC when Marcus Marcellus conquered Syracuse and then founded Scicli to establish a "Sicla" mint which was a Roman coin. Gianbattisti Nicolosi believes that Scicli arose on the ruins of ancient Ina, a city described by Ptolemy, cited by Cicero in his "Verrine" and of which the geographer Ravannate says that he found yes at noon Modica in fact, no other city has certainly ever existed except the one that now has the name of Scicli. Until 1061 nothing is known about Scicli, we only know that it was a city in continuous progress, and was under the Arab domination who called it "Siklah" which in Arabic it means balsa, he broke, steep place.
Scicli had its greatest impetus under the Arab name, where arboriculture, the use of irrigation water and the increase in seaports near Scicli enlarged and made the city more beautiful. Due to its strategic position it was considered as one of the strong and most important squares in Sicily.
Under the Norman name Scicli had the prerogative of a royal city (Modica and Ragusa they were then fiefdoms) until 1300. It had military importance and was enclosed by walls and had seven gates protected by four towers and by the formidable castle called “Tre Cantoni” which is located on the highest point of the city.
Gradually Scicli extended towards the valley below which was accessed from the highest part of the city through two large underground stairways that connected one with the mill of the barrel and with the gardens, the other with the source of Santa Venere in the Cava di Santa Maria the Nova. The municipal weapon of Scicli, used since the Norman era, is an ancient crowned lion, that is the crown radiata (with 5 sharp points) in the act of climbing three mountains decreasing from right to left, in all gold in blue field. It is believed that this weapon was adopted by the city of Scicli because the hill today called the Cross, viewed from the valley, has the silhouette of a crouching lion staring at the other hill called San Matteo.
Under Emperor Frederick II, Scicli had the title of "Inclita and Victoriosa". The granting of this title was equivalent to the recognition of the qualification of city, a qualification that was not lost even if the city then passed to the dependence of a feudal lord. In 1300 Scicli passed under the royal dominion of a feudal lord, when King Frederick II granted it to Manfredi Chiaramonte who already owned Modica and Ragusa and then formed the County of Modica. The city remained under the Chiaramonte fief until 1392 which then passed into the hands of King Martin the Younger. In 1423 it definitively broke away from the fief. The passage of the city from the hill to the plain certainly did not take place in a very short time, but began gradually towards the second half of the fourteenth century and lasted until the entire sixteenth century. After this transfer downstream of the city, an unhappy period began for Scicli due to the continuous calamities that hit it: the plague of 1575 and that of 1626 which infected Scicli alone, the invasion of locusts in 1619, followed by a strong period of drought, the flood of 1615 and 1618, other invasions of locusts that followed one another until 1858, including the most fatal and catastrophic earthquake of 1693 which killed about 2,000 people in Scicli and almost completely destroyed the city. In the following years Scicli followed the fate of all of Sicily and in particular of the County of Modica.
How to orient yourself
Scicli: full screen map.Italy square it is all surrounded by beautiful eighteenth-century buildings and dominated, on one side, by the imposing limestone cliff on which the ancient church of San Matteo stands.
How to get
By plane
- Comiso airport - It mostly carries out seasonal, charter and low cost airlines flights to some Italian and European cities.
- Catania-Fontanarossa Airport - with domestic flights to all Italian cities, and flights to the main European destinations and various international locations. Accessible by AST bus.
By car
From Catania follow the signs towards the A18 motorway in the direction of Syracuse. After 60 km you will find yourself in the vicinity of Syracuse, continue along the A18 in the direction of Rosolini, which is the exit where the highway ends. Leaving the latter, go towards Rosolini and pass by following the SS115, which you will travel towards Ispica for about 8 km. Once you reach a large roundabout (at the foot of Ispica), take the second exit towards Pozzallo and continue driving along the main road which (after the roundabout) takes the name of SP46. After about 5 km leave the SP46 taking a left exit towards the SP66 in the direction of Modica / Litoranea. Continuing on the SP66, after 7 km it will divide into two: on the left, the direction is Modica (SS194); on the right, the direction is Marina di Modica. Do not go towards Modica, do not enter the SS194. Instead, continue along the SP66 towards Marina di Modica, Sampieri and finally Scicli
Leaving the port of Pozzallo, turn left and follow the road towards Ragusa, pass an overpass and take the SP66. After a couple of kilometers it will divide into two: on the left, the direction is Modica (SS194); on the right, the direction is Marina di Modica. Do not go towards Modica, do not enter the SS194. Instead, continue along the SP66 towards Marina di Modica, Sampieri and finally Scicli
On the train
- 1 Scicli station. Scicli has a railway station with direct connections to / from Syracuse.
How to get around
By car
The car is essentially useless and it is better to leave it. Traffic restrictions can be found along the Via Nazionale which is closed to traffic on weekends.
What see
Churches and convents
- 1 Church of San Ignazio (Mother Church or of the College), Italy square. The most important monument in Piazza Italia, known as the Mother Church or the Collegio, because it is annexed to the former Jesuit college (demolished in 1961). The church, which became Matrice in 1874, when that of San Matteo was closed to worship, has a beautiful flat baroque façade with two orders of a "bureaucratic" tone in the division of the surfaces and in the adoption of the architectural orders of pilasters and counter pilasters, slightly jutting out. In addition to the openings, decorations and statues, marked and isolated by the pilasters, contribute to liven up the façade. Two original bell towers, set back from the façade, create an effect of depth and movement. On the grandiose central portal you can read the date 1751, perhaps that of reconstruction, as the church already existed before the earthquake of 1693 and then rebuilt in the 18th century; unfortunately the architect is not known.
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- 2 Church of San Matteo, Via San Matteo, 9 (Reachable only on foot by overcoming the wide staircase.). Outside the urban center you can visit the old Mother Church of San Matteo and the Three Cantons Castle. San Matteo located on the hill overlooking the whole city, was the ancient Mother Church of Scicli. The church can only be visited from the outside because it is closed and unsafe.
3 Church of San Giovanni Evangelista, Via Francesco Mormino Penna (After the municipal building, on the right). From the elegant concave-convex façade, harmonized by a series of double semi-columns, which in the central part reach up to the third order, giving it momentum and majesty. The second order and the large windows of the third are enlivened by very ornate wrought iron railings. The interior, with an elliptical plan, preceded by a vestibule and ended by a semicircular apse, is truly sumptuous for the richness of the decorations, stuccos, gilding and architectural elements, which make it a small masterpiece of Baroque art. The church was built between 1750 and 1803 and the designer was the Netino Vincenzo Sinatra. The last phase, that of the third order, was overseen by the Syracusan architect Salvatore Ali.
- 4 Church of San Bartolomeo. Going up Via San Bartolomeo you can admire the imposing bulk of the eighteenth-century Church of San Bartolomeo, whose solemn facade stands out on the towering limestone cliffs of the quarry. The church was built in the second half of the eighteenth century by the Syracusan architect Salvatore Alì with a façade between classical baroque and early neoclassicism with three orders with adjacent and superimposed columns, which in the third order are replaced by pilasters incorporating the belfry. The interior is more "baroque" overloaded as it is with stuccoes, gilding and sacred furnishings, and a large and beautiful nativity scene among the most beautiful that is known in Sicily. This dates back in part to 1535 and in part to the eighteenth century for the wooden sculptures by the Neapolitan artist Pietro Padula. A moment of peasant and popular life, which teems with the group of the Nativity with the most static and classical forms.
- 5 Convent of the Cross. The complex, consisting of the church and the convent, stands right on the precipice of the San Bartolomeo quarry, propped up in several parts by enormous concrete columns. The panorama that can be enjoyed from up here cannot be described, you have the feeling of dominating the whole territory without effort. The church with its simple façade is made stupendous by the beautiful Gothic - Chiaramonte decoration that make it a small masterpiece of art. From the bare surface of the facade emerge the two highly worked scrolls, in one of which you can see the Scicli coat of arms. Between the two scrolls there must have been a beautiful rose window of which a small part remains. Above the portal there are other decorations that denote the skill of their executors: two twisted columns that enclose two other arches that act as lunette, both well worked; the central one representing the Franciscan cordon is very beautiful and between the two arches, a true masterpiece of fretwork and technical expertise: the noble coat of arms of the Counts of Modica, Don Federico Henriquez and Donna Anna Cabrera, who celebrated their marriage in this church. The small oratory inside is dedicated to Our Lady of Sion, dates back to the second half of the 1400s. Inside there were frescoes from the 1400s, they are interesting both from a stylistic point of view and for the use of the dialect, in the religious context, instead of Latin. Today the frescoes are kept and exhibited in the church of Santa Teresa in Via F.M. Pen.
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- 6 Church of Santa Maria La Nova, Via Santa Maria la Nova (Continuing along Via S.M. la Nova on the left fork of the road, on the left). The most evocative church of the city, stands at the base of the imposing limestone wall of the quarry, in one of the most well-preserved urban environments in the city, so much so that with its architectural grandeur, it is one of the most evocative spaces of the urban plot. The whole district is characterized by narrow uphill alleys, steps, boxes, open spaces and truly suggestive views, enlivened in spring by flower pots, grown in large numbers in these modest m decorous residences, among which the white of the limestone dominates both the quarry that from the paving stones with which the roads are paved. The imposing facade of the church is one of the few neoclassical architectural works built in this area. Inside there are precious silver sacred furnishings and works of art of considerable artistic importance: a wooden statue of S.F. of Paola, the statue of the Immaculate Conception, covered in silver, the work of Sciclitan silversmiths and, in the third chapel, the wooden statue of the Risen Christ (Uomu Vivo). The central chapel is dedicated to the Addolorata, a statuary complex consisting of the reclining Madonna that supports the lifeless body of Christ, Martha and Mary Magdalene. The church in its oldest structures dates back to the fifteenth century, was then enlarged in 1642 and rebuilt in 1816 in the current style and form.
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- 7 Carmine church and Carmelite convent. The church, built after the earthquake of 1693 where the church of San Giacomo Interciso stood, was finished in 1769, while the convent was built between 1775 and 1778.
- 8 Church of Santa Maria della Consolazione (Taking Via S.M. the Nova in front of the Church of the Carmine, continuing the stream). Built between the 17th and 18th centuries. On the façade you will find the title "patrona civitatis", a privilege that the King of Spain Philip IV granted her in 1645. The building, with its Baroque façade in clear Ragusan limestone, stands on a short staircase made of limestone paving stones. Inside, with a basilica plan and three naves, you can admire a wooden simulacrum from 1560, representing the "Christ at the column" between two Pharisees and the wooden stalls with fourteen bas-reliefs of saints; on the right side of the church there is a Mannerist style portal that could belong to a pre-existing church.
- 9 Church of San Michele Arcangelo, Via Fiumillo.
- 10 Church of Santa Teresa, Via Francesco Mormino Penna, 81.
- 11 Church of San Giuseppe, Via San Giuseppe, ☎ 39 3388614973, @[email protected]. It is located in the district of the same name, built where a chapel dedicated to the saint by the local noble Miccichè family already existed since 1507, partially collapsed with the earthquake of 1693 and was rebuilt in the Baroque style of the time that characterizes the entire Val di Noto. The exterior is very sober with a concave facade dated 1722, the interior is from the eighteenth century, with interventions also from the nineteenth century, rich in Baroque stucco and once with very elegant colors. It houses two statues of great value: the eighteenth-century wooden statue of San Giuseppe, laminated in silver, by the Neapolitan sculptor Pietro Padula and, above all, the 1497 marble statue of Sant'Agrippina, attributed to Gabriele di Battista, a true masterpiece of the Sicilian fifteenth century. . Also noteworthy is the seventeenth-century painting representing the Expulsion of the merchants from the Temple by Jesus and that of 1765 of the Madonna della Grazia (or del Latte) with the Sicilian martyrs, Santa Lucia and Sant'Agata. Finally, the two seventeenth-century holy water stoups are of particular importance, made with Ragusan pitch stone and Comiso limestone.
Palaces
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- 12 Beneventano Palace (Taking the Via Nazionale from Piazza Italia, at the first street on the right, after a few meters). One of the most beautiful and representative monuments of the city. In its façade, which repeat the traditional baroque themes of the corner pilasters and the balcony of the noble floor connected vertically with the openings below, everything is distorted by the decoration that becomes the protagonist in the shape and finishes of the ashlars, in the sculptures that it presents in support of the noble coat of arms formed by two ironically made heads with open mouths, in the masks placed on the keys of the mixtilinear architraves of the shops and in those placed in front of the shelves supporting the balconies. The palace dates back to the mid-eighteenth century denotes the hand of an artist who was capable and updated according to the mannerist influences of that period.
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- 13 city Hall, Via Francesco Mormino Penna (Continuing Via Nazionale on the left). Used as the police station of Vigata in the fiction "Il commissario Montalbano", it is a building with a style that refers to Renaissance motifs, which fits well among the monuments that follow it in the street.
- 14 Spadaro Palace, Via Francesco Mormino Penna, 34.
- 15 Palazzo Veneziano Sgarlata, Via F. Mormino Penna, 351.
- 16 Palazzo Fava, Italy square (On the opposite side of the Church of San Ignazio). A classic example of 18th century Baroque architecture with a large portal and beautiful balconies, but the richest and most characteristic for the iconography represented is the balcony that rises in Via San Bartolomeo, with corbels representing galloping horses, winged griffins and figures fantastic rides by winged putti.
- 17 [link not working]Bonelli-Patanè Palace, Via Francesco Mormina Penna 53, ☎ 393404756053, @[email protected].
5€. Noble palace in neoclassical style, very sober, on the outside but inside it represents the summa of the eclectic style of the early twentieth century, where neoclassical, liberty and neo-Gothic meet. The splendid iconographic system, certainly the richest in the city, is the work of Raffaele Scalia, painter, decorator, illustrator and designer of furniture and lights among the most important in Italy in the period between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. At Palazzo Bonelli-Patanè, Scalia frescoed the main staircase, the ballroom, the men's and women's lounges, the dining room and the master bedroom, also designing the furniture and their arrangement. Finally, from the terrace, it is possible to look out onto the internal garden and admire a splendid panorama of the city. It was the television location of The Season of the Hunt.
5€. Noble palace in neoclassical style, very sober, on the outside but inside it represents the summa of the eclectic style of the early twentieth century, where neoclassical, liberty and neo-Gothic meet. The splendid iconographic system, certainly the richest in the city, is the work of Museums
- 18 Museum of the Ancient Cartia Pharmacy, Via Francesco Mormina Penna 24, ☎ 393388614973, @[email protected]. 2€. The Antica Farmacia Cartia is a pharmacy dating back to 1902, completely original in its structure, with furniture made in Art Nouveau style by the cabinetmaker and carpenter from Sciclitano Emanuele Russino. The art nouveau painting representing the goddess Hygeia, by Giovanni Gentile, is splendid. Inside there are solid and liquid compounds, artisan remedies, laboratory tools, stills, test tubes, sling bars and Caltagirone ceramic albarelli as well as an ancient cash register. The showcase of poisons is very singular.
- Television location de Commissioner Montalbano is The Young Montalbano, in addition to the television transposition of the historical novel by Andrea Camilleri, The Season of the Hunt, the Antica Farmacia Cartia from 6 April 2014 is a museum managed by the Tanit Scicli Cultural Association.
Other
- 19 Chiafura Caves. To get there, you have to go down to Piazza Italia and take Via San Bartolomeo. At the height of the church you enter it from the left side of the church is a small road that leads directly to the first level of the caves. It is a troglodyte settlement, over the centuries the home of the poorest and most disadvantaged classes in the country. They were caves transformed into houses, distributed almost in groups (seven levels) from top to bottom, without a pre-established order. The southern exposure and the particularity of the rock allowed human intervention, to the point of creating multi-room and multi-storey environments. They were inhabited until the mid-1950s, and their existence was the subject of attention and complaints in the country and in Parliament, when Carlo Levi, Renato Guttuso, Pier Paolo Pasolini and other intellectuals of the time spoke about them. Today there is a recovery project that attempts to restore the entire neighborhood to tourist and cultural use, almost an open-air ethnographic museum, an asset of collective memory.
Events and parties
What to do
- Sicily Bike Routes. It hires mountain bikes, professional bikes and cycling equipment, organizes guided cycling tours and gastronomic experiences in nature.
Shopping
How to have fun
Where to eat
In Scicli the dessert stands out Head of Turkish, a large puff filled with cow's milk ricotta.
Average prices
- Prosit - Sicilian Bistrot, Via Dolomiti, 6/8, ☎ 39 0932 842028.
- Colle Del Sole farmhouse, Contrada Passo Salina Snc, ☎ 39 339 1135210, @[email protected].
- Baqqala, Piazza Ficili, 3, ☎ 39 0932 931028, @[email protected].
- Al Galù, Via Pluchinotta, 21, ☎ 39 0932 841249.
Mon-Sun 12: 00-15: 00 and 20: 00-23: 30 closed on Mondays. - The cave, Via Dolomiti, 62, ☎ 39 0932 931363, @[email protected].
Mon-Sun 12: 00-15: 00 and 20: 00-23: 30 closed on Mondays.Where stay
Moderate prices
- Il Barocco Holiday House, Via Caneva 37, ☎ 39 347 8384815, @[email protected]. Check in: 15:00, check-out: 10:30.
Average prices
- Borgo Hedone, via Loreto 51, ☎ 39 347 3590938, @[email protected]. A boutique hotel in the historic center of Scicli.
- The Locks of Guadagna, ☎ 39 0932 1850237, @[email protected]. Masseria in the countryside between Scicli and Modica.
- Hotel 900, Via Duprè 11, ☎ 39 0932 843817, @[email protected]. Hotel 4 Stars.
- Pam's house, Via Canonico Meli 3397018 Scicli, ☎ 39 333 593 8249, @[email protected]. Bed and breakfast.
- Scicli Albergo Diffuso, Via Francesco Mormina Penna, 15, ☎ 39 3928207857, @[email protected]. Check in: 12:00, check-out: 10:30. Horizontal hotel: reception and breakfast room are central separated from the rooms and houses which are all distributed in the historic center, at a maximum distance of three hundred meters from the reception.
- Count Roger, Piazza Italia, 24, ☎ 39 0932 931840, @[email protected]. 3 star B&B.
- Bed and Breakfast Scicli, ☎ 39 347 4867523, 39 327 9478329, fax: 39 0932 1733027, @[email protected].
Safety
How to keep in touch
Keep informed
Around
- 20 Donnafugata Castle, Contrada Donnafugata (At 400 meters there is the train station that allows you to reach the site also from Modica or Ragusa. By bus through the Tumino company, timetables are available here. By car there is also a paid parking in front of the entrance.), ☎ 39 0932 619333, @[email protected]. € 6 full, € 3 reduced. Tue-Sun 9: 00-13: 00 and 14: 00-17: 00 (in summer the opening hours are extended). Improperly defined as a castle, this nineteenth-century building is actually a sumptuous residence that belonged to the rich family of Arezzo De Spuches. The interiors are well decorated and furnished and best reconstruct the atmosphere of the Sicilian nobility whose reference to the "Leopard" seems inevitable. Outside you can also visit the garden with a masonry labyrinth. Donnafugata Castle has often been used as a film set for both the Inspector Montalbano series and other films and is certainly one of the attractions not to be missed.
