Five kilometres from the town, at Badiavecchia, the walls of Santa Maria La Noara still stand: Saint Hugh founded it in 1171, under king Roger II, and it was the first Cistercian abbey in Sicily — bare arches, no ornament, as the order wanted.
Novara is one of the most beautiful villages in Italy, all sandstone worked by stonecutters, below the spur of the Rocca Salvatesta, which reaches 1,340 metres. In the local dialect — Gallo-Italic, brought by northern settlers who came with the Normans — the town is called Nuè. In the church of the Annunziata there is a marble Annunciation of 1531, carved by the Tuscan Giovambattista Mazzola. There are 1,413 residents.
Arancino · Pasta alla Norma · Pitone messinese
18 places to stay · top rated: Nuovo Borgo 9.8 · Hotel Villa Belvedere 9.3
Next up: Saint Hugh, Sicily's first Cistercian abbot, Sunday 15 August
Nearest airport: Reggio Calabria, 46 km away
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📅 Every year, on 15 and 16 August
On 15 and 16 August Novara di Sicilia celebrates Maria Santissima Assunta and Saint Hugh the abbot, who in 1171 founded here the island's first Cistercian abbey.
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 Novara di Sicilia, but an easy day trip away.
