In 1526 baron Michele Spadafora commissioned from Antonello Gagini a marble altarpiece for the mother church: a Nativity, with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Nicholas at its sides. Gagini carved nearly all of it, his son Giacomo finished it, and it reached Roccella in April 1540.
The town was simply called Roccella — the little rock — and then «Valdemone», from the Vallo di Demenna, the district into which the Arabs had divided this part of Sicily. The Spadafora held it for centuries, and their arm with a sword is still on the banner. The old Tingituria quarter is gone: a landslide carried it away around 1955. There are 711 residents.
Arancino · Pasta alla Norma · Pitone messinese
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Next up: Our Lady of the Audience and Saint Nicholas of Bari, patrons amid Gagini and ancient fairs, Sunday 15 August
Nearest airport: Catania Fontanarossa, 52 km away
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📅 Every year, on 15 August
Roccella Valdemone celebrates on 15 August Our Lady of the Audience and Saint Nicholas of Bari; in the 14th-century cathedral, called «A Matrici», the patron saint is venerated, while the marble statue of the Madonna is attributed to Antonello Gagini.
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 Roccella Valdemone, but an easy day trip away.
