A spot on the mountaintop is called u Sautu 'â Vecchia, the old woman's leap: the legend says a young woman, Emidia, disguised herself as a crone to fool the Saracens and was thrown off the crag; meanwhile the Normans took the castle.
The castle, which the Arabs called Zotica, was taken by Roger around 1076 and given to Caltagirone; of the mountain today only the seventeenth-century bell tower of San Michele remains, known here as the Campanaro. The town itself is very young: until 1934 it was a hamlet of Ramacca named Giardinelli, and only then did it take the castle's name. There are 4,748 residents.
Arancino · Pasta alla Norma
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Next up: Our Lady of Grace, patron of the town of ancient Arab Zotica, Sunday 8 August
Nearest airport: Catania Fontanarossa, 37 km away
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📅 Every year, on the second Sunday of August
Castel di Iudica celebrates Our Lady of Grace on the second Sunday of August; the municipality takes its name from the castle that stood on Monte Iudica, where under Arab rule the town of Zotica once stood, conquered by the Normans in 1076.
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.
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 Castel di Iudica, but an easy day trip away.
