Sfincione soft focaccia with tomato, onion, anchovies and caciocavallo
Tall, soft bread dough, tomato, onion, anchovies, oregano and caciocavallo: sfincione is Palermo's focaccia, cut into squares.
Read more →Where the square is today there was once only a fountain with a watering trough, at the crossing of the drovers' tracks that led to the fiefs. Shepherds and sharecroppers stopped there, and there the town began to gather itself, house after house.
The name comes from the wife of the duke of Ferrandina, who had obtained from the king of Spain the right to found villages: she was called Castellana, of a Catalan family. In 1799 a shepherd, Antonio Di Maria, went round collecting money to build the church of Santa Barbara, who here protected against lightning. A comune, though, Castellana has been only since 1947, split off from Petralia Sottana. There are 3,549 residents.
🍝 The flavours of Castellana Sicula
Arancina fried rice ball stuffed with meat ragù
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.
Near Castellana Sicula
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Places to see within 25 km
Outside Castellana Sicula, but an easy day trip away.
Marinelli Bell Foundry 📍 Agnone · 10 km One of Italy's oldest family businesses, this pontifical foundry has been casting bells since 1040. chiesa di San Francesco 📍 Agnone · 10 km An emerald-green dome, a Gothic portal and a book museum inside the friary. chiesa di San Marco Evangelista 📍 Agnone · 9.8 km A Venetian winged lion carved over the portal of Agnone's mother church. chiesa di Sant'Emidio Vescovo e Martire 📍 Agnone · 10 km The Gothic portal and rose window of the church Agnone calls its duomo. Santuario italico di Pietrabbondante 📍 Pietrabbondante · 17 km The theatre and temples where the Pentri Samnites gathered their senate, above the Trigno. chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta 📍 Carovilli · 18 km The marble font carved with the barons' portraits, in Carovilli's parish church.