The church of San Vito became a fortress for two reasons at once: pilgrims and pirates. Born as a chapel in the fourteenth century, by the end of the fifteenth it was a fortress-lodging, because the fame of the miracles attributed to Saint Vitus and Saint Crescentia brought more people than there was room for, and the coast was not safe.
Against the Barbary raids three watchtowers went up. Two can still be seen, Scieri and Isolidda; the third, torre Roccazzo, was demolished in 1935 to make room for a military semaphore. The town proper was born only at the end of the eighteenth century, at the foot of Monte Monaco, with three kilometres of beach in front of it. There are 4,415 residents.
Arancina · Pasta alla Norma
24 places to stay · top rated: Hotel Soffio D'Estate 9.5 · Andromeda Hotel 9.4
Next up: Saint Vitus and the greasy pole over the sea, Tuesday 15 June
Nearest airport: Palermo Falcone-Borsellino, 30 km away
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📅 Every year, on 15 June
On 15 June San Vito Lo Capo opens its patron's feast with a ten-metre soaped beam suspended over the sea, and closes it with the landing of the Saints at sunset.
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 San Vito Lo Capo, but an easy day trip away.
