The name begins in Arabic: qal'at, «castle», like Caltanissetta and Calatafimi. The rest is argued over — «castle of the caves», for the many that pierce the ground here, or «rock of the boars» — but there is a finer trail. In 1154 the geographer al-Idrisi, who worked for Roger the Norman, calls it Qal'at al-Genun: the castle of the Genoese. A Ligurian colony really was here, and it had helped count Roger against the Muslims at the siege of the Rocca di Judica; in return Caltagirone received vast lands, and from those came its fortune.
The earthquake of 1693 levelled everything, and the town rebuilt itself in late baroque: since 2002 it has been a World Heritage site with the other towns of the Val di Noto. Its manifesto is vertical: the stairway of Santa Maria del Monte climbs 142 steps, each dressed in painted majolica unlike any other; at the end of July, for San Giacomo, the stair is lit with thousands of lamps that draw a figure. Ceramics have been made here since before the Arabs, and the potters' workshops are a museum spread through the streets beside the official one; terracotta cribs are the other glory, at Christmas. And there is a name the history books know well: don Luigi Sturzo, founder of the Partito Popolare, was deputy mayor of Caltagirone, and to him the town owes its electric light, its public garden and its theatre.
cattedrale di San Giuliano · chiesa del Santissimo Salvatore · chiesa della Circoncisione di Gesù and 11 more
Arancino · Pasta alla Norma
16 places to stay · top rated: L'Angolo della Piazza 9.7 · I colori della Sicilia NOBLESSE 9.4
Next up: Saint James and the lit staircase, Saturday 24 July
Nearest airport: Catania Fontanarossa, 55 km away
Caltagirone is part of 🏛️ UNESCO heritage
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📅 Every year, on 24 and 25 July
On 24 and 25 July Caltagirone lights the one hundred and forty-two steps of the Santa Maria del Monte staircase with oil lamps inside coloured tiles, for the feast of Saint James.
cattedrale di San Giuliano Caltagirone's cathedral, a minor basilica since 1948, holds an 1862 painted cycle by Giuseppe Vaccaro. 
chiesa del Santissimo Salvatore Luigi Sturzo was ordained a priest here in 1894; his tomb has stood in the church since 1962. 
chiesa della Circoncisione di Gesù Jesuit church in Caltagirone, dedicated to the name of Jesus in 1593, with works by Gagini and Paladini. 
chiesa di San Francesco di Paola Above the doorway, a majolica panel of the saint crossing the Strait of Messina. 
chiesa di San Giacomo The minor basilica of San Giacomo, founded in 1090, holds the silver ark of Caltagirone's patron saint. 
chiesa di Santa Maria del Monte Caltagirone's old mother church, “la Matrice,” crowning the Santa Maria del Monte staircase. Saffron rice, ragù with peas and caciocavallo inside a golden cone-shaped crust: in Catania it is masculine and pointed, and the quarrel with Palermo over the name is serious.
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The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Caltagirone, but an easy day trip away.
