Before the houses there were caves: the peasants of this country lived dug into the sandstone — a few can still be seen in the Salerna district — and only around 1500 did they begin building on the land that had become theirs.
What came of it is a town made of hamlets, each named after the first family that settled there; the oldest is Guarraia. The mother church was rebuilt in 1790, with the stones dragged by oxen and the great bell carried here on men's shoulders from Villalba; above the altar it reads: «I shall give this people grace». Until 1820 Bompietro was a hamlet of Petralia Soprana. There are 1,474 residents.
Sfincione · Arancina · Pasta alla Norma
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Next up: Our Lady of Grace, patron of a town born from caves carved into sandstone, Wednesday 25 August
Nearest airport: Catania Fontanarossa, 91 km away
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📅 Every year, on 25 and 26 August, preceded by the traditional fifteen-day novena
Bompietro celebrates Our Lady of Grace on 25 and 26 August, with her statue carried house to house for fifteen days; the town began when the Spanish Ferrandina family had a fief reclaimed by peasants who lived in caves carved into the rock.
Tall, soft bread dough, tomato, onion, anchovies, oregano and caciocavallo: sfincione is Palermo's focaccia, cut into squares.
Read more →Saffron rice, ragù with peas and caciocavallo cheese inside a golden crust. Round and feminine in Palermo, pointed and called arancino in Catania: the quarrel is serious.
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 Bompietro, but an easy day trip away.
