Patron saint festival
Our Lady of the Rosary, patron of the land of the Pizzo Cane Reserve
📅 Every year, on the first Sunday of October
Ventimiglia di Sicilia celebrates Our Lady of the Rosary on the first Sunday of October.
The town carries a woman's name: Beatrice Ventimiglia, who in 1625 founded it on the fief of Calamigna. In 1863 «di Sicilia» was added so as not to confuse it with the Ligurian Ventimiglia, but here and in the neighbouring towns they still call it Calamigna.
Calamigna would be the Arabic qal'ah, fortress, stuck onto the Latin moenia, walls: and walls there really were, a metre thick, around a settlement of the fifth century BC just outside the town. They were blown up with explosive, and the marks of the charges can still be seen on the blocks. Above the town, since 2001, there is an astronomical observatory. There are 2,080 residents.
The Ventimiglia di Sicilia guide
🎉 Festivals and feasts in Ventimiglia di Sicilia 1
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🍝 The flavours of Ventimiglia di Sicilia
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 Ventimiglia di Sicilia
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Places to see within 25 km
Outside Ventimiglia di Sicilia, but an easy day trip away.
abbazia di Santa Maria al Porale 📍 Ronco Scrivia · 9.9 km Founded by Cistercians in 1208 for pilgrims on the Via Postumia, today a chapel with a fresco of 1446. Castello di Francavilla Bisio 📍 Francavilla Bisio · 10 km The medieval castle of Francavilla Bisio: towers, moat and six centuries of Spinola, Grillo and Guasco. Castello di Lercaro 📍 Ovada · 11 km A Lercaro fortified villa of 1570, given to the town in 1872 as a hospice, now a ruin chiesa di Nostra Signora Assunta 📍 Ovada · 12 km Sober baroque inspired by Genoa, with twin bell towers and Pietro Ivaldi's vault. chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie 📍 Ovada · 12 km Founded by Dominicans in 1481, with a high altar brought from Genoa in 1690 chiesa dell'Immacolata Concezione 📍 Ovada · 12 km A plague vow of 1631, first stone in 1640, and an almost total rebuild after the 1935 fire