Patron saint festival In 280 days
Feast of Santa Cristina
📅 Every year, on 24 July
On 24 July Santa Cristina Gela, a municipality of 925 inhabitants in the province of Palermo, celebrates its patroness Santa Cristina.
On 31 May 1691 eighty-two Arbëreshë farmers from Piana degli Albanesi were granted this fief in perpetual lease: they were tired of walking back and forth to work the fields, and they settled here. It is the smallest and the youngest of the Albanian towns of Sicily.
Albanian is still spoken, and the comune uses it in documents and on road signs. The town stands at 674 metres, on a hill above the lake of Piana, ringed by mountains; the «Gela» in its name came from the Naselli, dukes of Gela, who took these lands in 1747, and was added so as not to confuse it with the other Santa Cristinas in Italy. There are 925 residents.
The Santa Cristina Gela guide
🎉 Festivals and feasts in Santa Cristina Gela 1
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🍝 The flavours of Santa Cristina Gela
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.
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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 Santa Cristina Gela
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Places to see within 25 km
Outside Santa Cristina Gela, but an easy day trip away.
Castelli Romani 📍 Albano Laziale · 8.3 km The protected area of the Alban Hills: Lakes Albano and Nemi, Tusculum and chestnut woods on the old volcano. Cattedrale di San Pancrazio 📍 Albano Laziale · 10 km The cathedral of Albano Laziale, with its eighteenth-century peperino façade and remains of Leo III's basilica. Museo Civico 📍 Albano Laziale · 11 km Albano's museum in Villa Ferrajoli: from the volcano of the Alban Hills to a pile-dwelling village and Pompey's villa. Chiesa di Santa Maria della Stella 📍 Albano Laziale · 11 km The Savelli church above the catacombs of San Senatore, in Albano, next to the historic cemetery. Castel Savello 📍 Albano Laziale · 12 km The ruins of the Savelli stronghold on an isolated hill below Albano, razed in 1435 and never rebuilt. Hadrian's Villa 📍 Tivoli · 15 km Spanning over 120 hectares, this 2nd-century imperial residence is a masterpiece of Roman architecture and UNESCO site.