The name is Arabic: from al-shaqq, «division», because Sciacca marked the border between two districts, halfway between Arab Marsala and Berber Girgenti. The steam caves of San Calogero — natural grottoes inside Monte Kronio, where the vapour has healed for millennia — had made it a spa town long before the Arabs, and before the Romans too. The fishing port, among the busiest in Sicily, colours the stage set of terraced houses with its boats; and the coral of Sciacca, an orange with no equal, came from a submerged bank fished in one single season of history, between 1875 and 1914: what you see today in the goldsmiths' shops is all from then.
Offshore, the town also owns an island that isn't there: in 1831 an underwater volcano rose from the sea, and within days the British planted their flag on it, the French called it Julia and the Bourbons Ferdinandea — then the island sank again and the quarrel settled itself. On land, the carnival is among the oldest on the island and parades satirical floats that spare nobody. Ceramics and Norman and Baroque churches complete a real town; and the enchanted castle is the smallholding of Filippo Bentivegna, peasant and artist, who carved thousands of heads into the rock: they were the subjects of a kingdom he had invented, and some have ended up in the Art Brut museum in Lausanne.
basilica di Maria Santissima del Soccorso · cappella di San Giorgio dei Genovesi a Sciacca · castello dei Luna and 10 more
Arancina · Pasta alla Norma
21 places to stay · top rated: Le Maestranze Deluxe Rooms 9.5 · Domus Maris Relais Boutique Hotel 9.4
Next up: Feast of the Madonna del Soccorso, Tuesday 2 February
Nearest airport: Trapani Birgi, 69 km away
Sciacca is part of 🏖️ Seaside ♨️ Spa towns
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📅 Every year, on 2 February and 15 August
Twice a year, on 2 February and 15 August, barefoot sailors carry the jewel-covered statue of the Madonna del Soccorso along Sciacca's main street, behind clouds of incense.
basilica di Maria Santissima del Soccorso Sciacca's mother church, founded in 1108: Gagini sculptures and a vault frescoed by Tommaso Rossi. 
cappella di San Giorgio dei Genovesi a Sciacca A chapel built in 1520 by Sciacca's Genoese merchants and demolished in 1952. 
castello dei Luna The scant remains of Sciacca's castle, tied to the bloody feud between the Luna and Perollo families. 
chiesa di San Michele A 1371 Sciacca church that keeps two Holy Thorns from Christ's crown, a gift of the Peralta. 
chiesa di San Nicolò La Latina The oldest church in Sciacca: three Norman apses and fragments of Byzantine frescoes 
chiesa di Santa Margherita A 1342 Sciacca church with a 1468 marble portal by Pietro de Bonitate to a design by Laurana. 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 Sciacca, but an easy day trip away.
