Aeschylus, the father of tragedy, died at Gela in 456 before Christ: the Greek city, founded by settlers from Rhodes and Crete at the end of the seventh century, was then among the powers of the Mediterranean, and it went on to refound Agrigento. Under the tyrant Hippocrates it was the greatest city-state of the Sicilian Greeks, and in 424 it hosted the peace congress that brought the Sicilian cities to an agreement. The Timoleontean walls of Capo Soprano — preserved for hundreds of metres — and the archaeological museum keep its inheritance.
It lost and recovered its name twice: destroyed and rebuilt, it was Eraclea for Frederick II, then Terranova di Sicilia until 1927, when the Greek name was given back to it. The twentieth century gave it its other face: the Allied landing of July 1943 — Operation Husky began right here — made it one of the first cities to be liberated, and the petrochemical plant marked its landscape and its history. Gela is a city to be understood, with long beaches and a history bigger than its reputation.
Geloi Wetland · Riserva naturale orientata Biviere di Gela · Area archeologica demaniale “Bosco Littorio” and 16 more
Arancina · Pasta alla Norma
10 places to stay · top rated: Villa Torre di Manfria con piscina 10.0 · Marylen 9.9
Next up: Maria Santissima dell'Alemanna, Wednesday 8 September
Nearest airport: Catania Fontanarossa, 85 km away
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📅 Every year, on 8 September
On 8 September Gela celebrates its patroness, the Madonna dell'Alemanna: the Byzantine panel that depicts her was found by a farmer where her sanctuary now stands.
Geloi Wetland Protected wetland created in 2017 on the Gela plain, a refuge for migratory birds and storks. Riserva naturale orientata Biviere di Gela Reserve of 1997 around Sicily's largest coastal lake, a stopover for migratory birds. 
Area archeologica demaniale “Bosco Littorio” Archaeological area at the foot of the acropolis of Gela, with the remains of an archaic Greek emporium. 
Bagni greci di Gela Greek Hellenistic baths of the fourth century BC at Caposoprano, with tubs and an ancient hypocaust. chiesa di Maria Santissima Assunta in Cielo Neoclassical Chiesa Madre of Gela, built between 1766 and 1799 where a Greek temple once stood. 
chiesa di San Francesco d'Assisi Late-Baroque church in Gela, of 1659, with eighteenth-century canvases and a plaque to Dante. 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 Gela, but an easy day trip away.
