Patron saint festival
Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi
📅 Every year, on 4 October
On 4 October Basicò celebrates Saint Francis of Assisi with a solemn procession; the village is also known for the Basicò Provola Cheese Festival, on 19 August.
The name means regal. It comes from the Greek basilikòn, and refers to the monastery of the Poor Clares of Santa Maria di Basicò, who in the time of Frederick II prayed in perpetuity for His Majesty. Until 1862 the town was called Casalnuovo, and it is that hamlet that stayed on the coat of arms.
The fief of Casalnuovo carried with it the rank of Peer of Sicily, which gave its holders a seat in the upper chamber of the Kingdom's parliament. In the sixteenth-century church of San Francesco d'Assisi is the parish museum; the bell tower beside it, some twenty metres high, went up in three stages, in 1700, 1713 and 1804, and has had a clock since 1876. There are 679 residents.
The Basicò guide
🎉 Festivals and feasts in Basicò 1
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🍝 The flavours of Basicò
Arancino fried rice cone stuffed with ragù, pointed like Etna
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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Pitone messinese fried half-moon pastry filled with escarole, tuma cheese and anchovies
A thin sheet of dough folded into a half-moon and fried, with escarole, tuma cheese, anchovies and black pepper inside: Messina’s street food, to eat hot straight from the rosticceria.
Read more →Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Basicò
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Places to see within 25 km
Outside Basicò, but an easy day trip away.
Villa Pallavicino 📍 Salerano Canavese · 2.8 km The Second Empire villa gazing over the morainic amphitheatre of Ivrea from a hill above Salerano Canavese. Torre di Pramotton 📍 Donnas · 15 km A twelfth-century hexagonal tower at 540 metres, signalling to the Pont-Saint-Martin castle and the fort of Bard. castello di Castellamonte 📍 Castellamonte · 16 km Seven gates in the curtain wall and a fief split into 271 points of jurisdiction. Castello di Suzey 📍 Pont-Saint-Martin · 15 km A ruin above Ivéry: in 1351 the Vallaise held an Ivrea merchant prisoner here for ransom. Bard Fortress 📍 Bard · 19 km Rebuilt in the 19th century, this imposing Savoy fortress is a masterpiece of military engineering in the Aosta Valley. Pont Saint-Martin 📍 Pont-Saint-Martin · 16 km Two thousand years of traffic on a single span: the boldest flat arch left from Roman times.