A northern language is still spoken here: the Gallo-Italic brought by the Piedmontese and Ligurian settlers who came with the Normans and with Adelaide del Vasto, and in its own dialect the town is called San Frareau. The name comes from Saint Philadelphus, one of the three brother saints, worn down into Fratello.
The town climbs from 300 metres almost to Monte Soro, and in the pastures the San Fratello horses run wild. But the mountain moves: on the night of 7–8 January 1922 a landslide razed nearly the whole old town and many went down to the sea, to Acquedolci; another, on 14 February 2010, emptied more houses. There are 3,942 residents.
Arancino · Pasta alla Norma · Pitone messinese
17 places to stay · top rated: La Casa di Carola 9.7 · Appartamento Moderno in Centro città 9.5
Next up: Saint Philadelphus and the Three Saints, Monday 10 May
Nearest airport: Catania Fontanarossa, 73 km away
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📅 Every year, on 10 May
The town takes its name from Saint Philadelphus, celebrated on 10 May with his brothers Alphius and Cyrinus: on Monte Vecchio stands their Norman sanctuary, reached by a cavalcade of San Fratello horses.
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 San Fratello, but an easy day trip away.
