The town was called simply Capri; the «Leone» was added on 13 November 1862, and nobody quite knows why: some say for the courage the people of Capri showed alongside Garibaldi's men, others for the fifteenth-century fountain in the little square, where a lion sits crouching.
The first half of the name is argued over too: from the Greek kápros, wild boar — the animal turns up on many coins found here — or else from goats. The village stands at 400 metres in the Nebrodi, and from up there you can see three of the seven Aeolians: Salina, Alicudi and Filicudi. Below, on the plain, spreads the populous hamlet of Rocca. There are 4,516 residents.
Arancino · Pasta alla Norma · Pitone messinese
Compare hotels, B&Bs and holiday homes on Booking.com for your dates.
Next up: Saint Constantine the Emperor, a patron venerated only here in Sicily, Saturday 31 July
Nearest airport: Catania Fontanarossa, 75 km away
No events match these filters.
📅 Every year, on the last Saturday of July
Capri Leone celebrates Saint Constantine on the last Saturday of July: it is the only town in Sicily that venerates the Emperor Constantine as patron saint and protector.
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.
