What to see in Caltagirone, itinerary comprising of main monuments and places of interest, including the Capitanial Court, the Cathedral, the Church of Santa Maria del Monte and the Church of Gesà, where a Nativity by Caravaggio is kept.
Tourist information
Located between the Iblei mountains and the Erei mountains, Caltagirone has very ancient origins, as evidenced by some necropolis dating back to prehistoric times, it is also a famous center for the production of majolica.
The baroque character of the urban layout is derived from an eighteenth-century reconstruction, made necessary following the serious damage reported after the 1693 earthquake.
The most interesting monument is the Capitanial Court, built by the Gagini between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
In addition to this, the nineteenth-century Cathedral deserves to be mentioned, where some Pale of the Vaccaro brothers are kept, the former Palazzo Senatorio, which houses the Sturzo gallery, where there are shops specializing in local crafts.
The Church of Jesus, dating back to the sixteenth century, contains within it a Nativity by Caravaggio and a Pietà by Paladino, while the Palazzo degli Studi is distinguished by a remarkable Greek relief from the sixth century BC.
What see
The Church of Santa Maria del Monte, founded in the twelfth century and rebuilt in the eighteenth century, preserves the Madonna del Conadomini, a thirteenth-century Byzantine work.
The medieval church of San Giorgio, with a remarkable bell tower, houses the Mystery of the Trinity, made in the fifteenth century by Rogier Van Der Weyden, which is the most important Flemish painting in Sicily.
Other churches to see are those of the Salvatore and the Rosary, both in Baroque style, containing sixteenth-century sculptures by Gagini, the church of San Giacomo, rebuilt between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the fifteenth-century church of Santa Maria del Gesù, which preserves a other gaginesque sculpture.
We should also mention the Institute of Art for Ceramics, where it is possible to admire recently made products.
The Civic Museum displays archaeological finds and modern works, the ceramic museum instead collects extensive documentation regarding Sicilian ceramics.
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The Sicilian Ethnological Museum contains evidence relating to rural areas,
Nearby is the necropolis of Monte Sant’Ippolito, where it is possible to admire tombs carved into the rock, dating back to the Copper and Bronze Age.
