On 31 August 1302, up here on the Pizzo, the peace was signed that closed the War of the Vespers: Frederick III was recognised king of Trinacria and married Eleanor of Anjou. Twenty years of war ended in a mountain castle.
The name comes from the Arabic Qal'at al-ballut, the castle of the oaks. Before that, below, stood Triocala, which Salvius Tryphon made the capital of the rebel slaves until the consul Manius Aquillius razed it in 99 BC. Ruins of the Norman castle remain on the crag, and in the town the church of the Pietà is dug into the rock. There are 3,907 residents.
Arancina · Pasta alla Norma
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Next up: Saint Pellegrino, the bishop who defeated the dragon, Wednesday 18 August
Nearest airport: Palermo Falcone-Borsellino, 68 km away
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📅 Every year, on 18 August
Caltabellotta celebrates Saint Pellegrino on 18 August; the town's first bishop, legend holds he slew a dragon and lived out his life in the cave where he had killed it.
Saffron rice, ragù with peas and caciocavallo cheese inside a golden crust. Round and feminine in Palermo, pointed and called arancino in Catania: the quarrel is serious.
Read more →Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Caltabellotta, but an easy day trip away.
