The castle stands on a spur sheer above the sea, and Bianca Lancia lived there — the woman Frederick II married in 1246. Its core is Norman, of the eleventh century, and it was there to watch the coast for pirates: the Arabs called it Voab, sea rock, and al-Idrisi marked the harbour in 1154 as Marsa Daliah.
The name, instead, comes from the Latin brolium, which means garden. Today the castle holds the museum of Sicily's coastal fortifications; and every year, for the sea festival, the statue of the Christ of the Abyss is hauled up from the seabed and set on the rock in front of the promenade, where it stays for a few days. There are 5,826 residents.
Arancino · Pasta alla Norma · Pitone messinese
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Next up: Mary Most Holy Annunciate, patroness of a town where the Christ of the Abyss resurfaces from the sea, Thursday 25 March
Nearest airport: Reggio Calabria, 73 km away
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📅 Every year, on 25 March
Brolo celebrates Mary Most Holy Annunciate on 25 March; every year, on the occasion of the Festa del Mare, the statue of the Christ of the Abyss is made to resurface from the seabed and hoisted onto the rock facing the seafront.
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 →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.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Brolo, but an easy day trip away.
