In 1688 Charles II made Sancio Gravina a prince on one condition: that he build a town and give out land to farm. From 1693 his son Ottavio filled Ramacca by offering houses, fields and immunity to anyone persecuted or sentenced for political reasons in the Kingdom, provided they came to live there.
It worked: from four hundred inhabitants in 1693 the town went to one thousand five hundred and sixty by 1820. Its territory is huge, the second largest in the Catania area after Caltagirone, and on the Montagna lie the remains of a Greek-Sicel town some identify with Erice, founded by Ducetius and destroyed by Agathocles. In April they hold the artichoke festival. There are 10,775 residents.
Arancino · Pasta alla Norma
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Next up: Saint Joseph, patron of a fief that became a principality in the 17th century, Friday 19 March
Nearest airport: Catania Fontanarossa, 34 km away
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📅 Every year, on 19 March
Ramacca celebrates Saint Joseph on 19 March; the territory, detached from Caltagirone in 1197 under Emperor Henry VI of Swabia, was granted in 1688 as a principality to Sancio Gravina, on condition that he build a settlement there.
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 Ramacca, but an easy day trip away.
