In the third century BC Amestratos stood here, striking its own coins and joining a league with Halaesa, Kalè Aktè and Herbita to clear the sea of the Aeolian pirates. Silius Italicus writes that it sent Rome both grain and well-trained soldiers.
The town lies between 850 and 1,100 metres in the Nebrodi, halfway between Palermo and Messina: they call it the saddle of the Nebrodi. In 1101 Roger I gave it to his brother Robert, an abbot in Calabria, and Frederick II granted it the title of imperial city — which is why the arms bear the crowned eagle of the Hohenstaufen. There are 5,014 residents.
Arancino · Pasta alla Norma · Pitone messinese
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Next up: Saint Sebastian, celebrated twice a year, Wednesday 20 January
Nearest airport: Catania Fontanarossa, 81 km away
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📅 Every year, on 20 January and 18 August
Mistretta celebrates Saint Sebastian twice a year: on 20 January, the date of his death, and on 18 August, for the town's liberation from the plague in the 17th century.
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.
