What to see in Randazzo, itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest of the medieval village, including the Swabian castle, the San Nicola church and the Palazzo Finocchiaro.
Tourist information
Located to the right of the Alcantara, near the northern slopes of Etna, Randazzo was founded in the Byzantine era, in the place where there was an older village, and was a center of considerable importance between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
The Church of San Martino, dating back to the fourteenth century, retains the magnificent bell tower with alternating strips of lava and limestone, including an interesting double order of windows.
Inside there is a baptismal font from 1447, a remarkable Gaginesque sculpture, a table from the Messina school and a fifteenth-century tabernacle.
The church of San Nicola, in its current version, is the result of a restructuring carried out between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, of the previous building of worship only the apses remain, while inside there are Gaginesque sculptures and some tables sixteenth.
Palazzo Finocchiaro, built at the beginning of the sixteenth century, shows a facade with pointed lancet windows and a Latin inscription.
What see
The Church of Santa Maria, dating back to the Norman-Swabian period, has retained only the apses and side walls of the original construction, which are notable examples of architecture made of lava stone.
The two portals on the side are in Catalan style of the fifteenth century, as are the canopied windows located on the sides.
The last alteration dates back to 1863, when the facade with the adjoining spire bell tower was rebuilt.
In the grandiose interior with three naves divided by lava stone columns, some sculptures of the Gaginian school are preserved, as well as several eighteenth-century paintings by Giuseppe Velasquez and two sixteenth-century paintings, the Salvation of Randazzo and the Pentecost.
The Castle of Randazzo, located sheer above a cliff of lava rock, already existed at the time of Frederick II of Swabia.
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Residence of the Giustiziere del Valdemone, it became a prison and a place of detention for those sentenced to death.
