Calascibetta

Among the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy, Calascibetta is a small village in the heart of Sicily, a crossroads of thousands of years of history and peoples that have marked its contours. The part of the town that climbs from Piazza Umberto I to the Mother Church and the Tower of San Pietro is a precious testimony to the ancient medieval village built under Norman rule from the year 1000 onwards. Along the ascent, it is worth looking out from Piazzale Angelo, one of the most beautiful vantage points in the Sicilian hinterland. The Regia Cappella Palatina, or Mother Church, rises above the ruins of Marco Castle, an ancient Arab fortress. In medieval times, Calascibetta was home to a large Jewish community. The Jewish quarter, in dialect 'Iudia', gives its name to Via Giudea.