The name is the colour of a habit: it came from a Monasterium Album, the monastery whose friars dressed in white, which stood in the Campanarazzu district. On a night in 1669 the lava of Etna swallowed both monastery and town: of old Misterbianco what remains is the Campanarazzu, the truncated bell tower rising out of the lava field, and beneath it, brought to light by digs in recent years, the whole nave of the mother church, its original floor and its altars.
The inhabitants did not wait: they immediately asked the court of the Kingdom for permission to refound themselves elsewhere, and on 24 November 1670 they bought the new site for five hundred and one onze, twelve tarì and ten grana — the price is recorded down to the last grain. Then they rebuilt the town as faithfully as they could to what it had been: the square of the Quattro Canti, the churches, the four noble palaces, and even the cross on its stele, which they carried away from the buried town and set up again on the hill that takes its name from it. Today Misterbianco is the commercial gate of the metropolitan area — its trade and exhibition centres serve half of eastern Sicily — and its coat of arms bears the eagle of the Kingdom of Sicily with a silver comet and Etna. The volcano looms, Catania is right there: a headquarters position.
Campanarazzu · chiesa della Madonna delle Grazie · chiesa di San Nicolò and 1 more
Arancino · Pasta alla Norma
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Next up: Saint Anthony the Abbot and the Great Feast buried by lava, Sunday 17 January
Nearest airport: Catania Fontanarossa, 8 km away
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📅 Every year, on 16-17 January, 12 December and, every 3 years, the first Sunday of August
Misterbianco celebrates Saint Anthony the Abbot three times a year, on 16-17 January, on 12 December and, every three years, with the Great Feast on the first Sunday of August; the old town was buried by Etna's lava in 1669.
Campanarazzu The excavations of old Misterbianco, buried by Etna's lava in 1669, opened to the public in 2025. 
chiesa della Madonna delle Grazie The mother church of Misterbianco, rebuilt after the 1669 eruption, with a sacred art museum in its crypt. 
chiesa di San Nicolò The first church of the new Misterbianco after the lava of 1669, reopened in 2025 after the earthquake. 
terme romane The remains of Misterbianco's Roman aqueduct, on piazza della Resistenza, already drawn by Jean Houel. 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 Misterbianco, but an easy day trip away.
