Nicolosi is Etna's southern gate: from here the road climbs to the Sapienza refuge and the cable car toward the summit craters of Europe's highest active volcano, a UNESCO site. The Monti Rossi, twin cones born of the 1669 eruption that reached Catania, stand as a memento at the town's edge — today climbed on a stroll among broom flowers.
The name comes from the monks of San Nicolò l'Arena, who had their first monastery here. In winter you ski overlooking the sea; in summer, lava flows and caves are explored with guides. In the evening, Etna mushrooms and wines in the village trattorias.
Mount Etna – Southern Slope · chiesa dello Spirito Santo · chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie and 5 more
Arancino · Immanù · Pasta alla Norma
24 places to stay · top rated: Etnèra Hotel 10.0 · Locanda Milia Etna 9.8
Next up: Feast of Saint Anthony of Padua, Sunday 13 June
Nearest airport: Catania Fontanarossa, 17 km away
Nicolosi is part of 🏔️ Mountains
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📅 Every year, on 13 June; 19 February for the finding
Nicolosi's patron falls on 13 June, but the town also keeps 19 February, the anniversary of the finding of the saint's incorrupt tongue.
Mount Etna – Southern Slope Silvestri craters, cable car and Monti Rossi: Etna as climbed from Nicolosi. 
chiesa dello Spirito Santo Designed by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini in the 18th century, Nicolosi's mother church houses a giant 1846 Lent 
chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie Parish church in Nicolosi housing rare 17th and 18th-century wooden statues and historical altars. 
Museo della civiltà contadina Paternò's civic museum showcasing archaeological finds and traditional rural heritage across two historical si 
chiesa delle Anime Santissime del Purgatorio Destroyed by Etna's 1669 eruption and rebuilt on the same spot with stone salvaged from the earlier church. 
chiesa di San Francesco di Paola Sicily's largest church, featuring a 66-metre dome and an unfinished 18th-century facade in Piazza Dante. 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 →Rye flour and semolina, dark crust, baked in the wood ovens of the Etna slopes: Nicolosi's black bread, the bread of hunger turned local landmark.
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 Nicolosi, but an easy day trip away.
