Sights and landmarks in Alcamo

Sights and landmarks in Alcamo

1. See

   Arab Watchtower

   Ancient watchtower built by Saracens at about 980 AD. Inside it there are a characteristic stone winding staircase with 85 steps and a big cistern.

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   Arab fountain

   It is an ancient structure for providing fresh water to people and livestock still working, built during the period of Arab rule.

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   Archeological Site of Mount Bonifato (or Longuro)

   Founded by a colony of Greeks escaped from Troy, and probably inhabited from the 7th century BC until the 12th century AD, it was discovered in the second half of the 16th century. They found lanterns and stamps of bricks dating back to the Roman age, some tomb caves, several ceramic and bronze fragments.

4. See

   Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta

   Chiesa Madre

   Realized during the 14th century and rebuilt in 1669; the portal and the bell tower are the only remains from the original church of the 14th century. It is located in the centre of the town, near piazza Ciullo. The interior contains frescoes by Guglielmo Borremans. In the apse and in the side chapels there are works by Antonello Gagini,

   08:30 – 12:30, 16:00 – 19:00·free

5. See

   Casa De Ballis

   It was built in the 16th century and has a square tower with battlements, adorned with a round arch that contains two windows, one twin lancet and one triple lancet; probably designed in 1490 by brothers Tommaso and Pietro Oddo.

6. See

   Castle of Ventimiglia

   Torre Saracena

   A medieval castle; as of 2020, there are only some parts of the walls, the primary tower and the dungeons. It took the name from Enrico Ventimiglia, who had built it only for defence.

7. See

   Church of Jesus Christ the Redeemer

   Chiesa di Gesù Cristo Redentore

   Built in 2006. It is the most recent church in Alcamo; there are three original works realized by the sculptor Massimiliano Apicella: Jesus Christ the Redeemer, the altar made with Carrara white marble and the red marble ambo.

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   Church of Saint Anne

   Chiesa di Sant'Anna

   The church was built between 1630 and 1634, and the Capuchine friary between 1633 and 1636. In 1866 the friary was abolished. The church has a single nave, a baptistry and seven chapels, embellished by frescoes by Leonardo Mirabile and Giovanni Dato. The frescoes on the nave and the vault are by Eugenio Ligotti and Salvatore Gagliano from Palermo. There are several paintings by Fra Felice da Sambuca.

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   Church of Saint Francis of Assisi

   Chiesa di San Francesco d'Assis

   It was built between the years 1224-1226, demolished and rebuilt between 1608-1648. Inside it there are a marble ancon, probably by Domenico Gagini, and two sculptures reproducing the Maddalena and Saint Mark, both ascribed to Antonello Gagini.

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    Church of Saint Francis of Paola

    Chiesa di San Francesco di Paola

    The church was built in 1550, with one nave and has five altars. The façade, dated 1695, has a convex form, a typical characteristic of Rococo style. in 1750 it was embellished with stuccoes by Nicolò Curti. On the high altar there is the Crucifix, a wooden sculpture made by Francesco Marino from Trapani in the 19th century.

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    Church of Saint Joseph the Worker

    Chiesa di San Giuseppe Lavoratore

    Built in 1947, it has one nave with a barrel lowered vault; the church has an elegant façade, in the neo-Romanesque style, with a rose window in the middle and a portal below it.

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    Church of Saint Mary of Jesus

    Chiesa di Santa Maria di Gesù

    Built in the 15th century and enlarged in 1762. It holds the body of Beato Arcangelo Piacentini from Calatafimi.

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    Church of Saint Olivia

    Chiesa di Sant'Oliva

    It was built in 1533 and renovated in 1724. Inside there are a picture by Pietro Novelli on the main altar ("Sacrificio della Messa" dated 1639) and works by the Gagini.

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    Church of Saint Thomas

    Chiesa di San Tommaso

    The date of its construction is uncertain, probably the first half of the 15th century. It is faced by a great portal with geometrical decorations.

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    Church of Saints Paul and Bartholomew

    Chiesa dei Santissimi Paolo e Bartolomeo

    Built between 1615 and 1689: it has got characteristic baroque features and holds a very ancient and valuable picture, the Madonna del Miele (made about the year 1300).

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    Church of the Guardian Angel or Sheltered People

    Chiesa del S.Angelo Custode or Chiesa delle Riparate

    The church is with one nave and was built in 1659 in Baroque style, with the adjoining "Convent boarding school for sheltered women", built in 1684. It was enlarged and embellished in the 18th century by the architect Giovanni Biagio Amico, and restored again in the 19th century.

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    Church of the Holy Family.

    Chiesa della Sacra Famiglia

    The church has a single navy with three altars: the high altar (in white marble and adorned by red stucco columns) and two side altars, in polychromatic marble, realized and inaugurated in 1937. Until 1952 on the high altar there was a painting made by Giuseppe Renda, now in the sacristy, substituted by a wooden statue of the Holy Family, realized by the firm Luigi Santifaller.

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    Church of the Holy Souls in Purgatory

    Chiesa delle Anime Sante del Purgatorio

    Built in 1813, demolished and rebuilt in 1958. It has one nave: inside it there was a painting, dating back to 1854 and later missing, made by Raffaele Genovese from Palermo, representing the Holy Souls of Purgatory with Our Lady of Miracles above them, Saint Rocco and Saint Sebastian at the two sides.

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    Cuba delle Rose

    A cistern built by Arabs, about one thousand years ago, which served the inhabitants of Calatubo. It was restored some years ago.

20. See

    Ex Church of the Annunciation

    Chiesa dell'Annunziata o del Carmine

    Built in the 14th century, in 16th and 17th centuries it was rebuilt in the Catalan Gothic style, but collapsed in 1866. Today, only some chapels and columns remain.

21. See

    Ex College of Jesuits

    ex Collegio dei Gesuiti

    Built in the 17th century, in the 18th century they added an arcade. Inside the oratory, there are some 18th-century frescoes by Domenico La Bruna. Today it is the seat of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Alcamo (MACA) and of the Civic Library.

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    Funtanazza

    A very old architectonic work which was probably used as a water reservoir, but according to some people it was a thermal plant. It has a rectangular plan with pillars sustaining a barrel vault, similar to the Moorish fountains of the northern coasts in Africa.

    free entrance

23. See

    Geosite Travertino della Cava Cappuccini

    In the Geosite, dating back to Pleistocene, they discovered the fossilized shell of a tortoise, Geochelone sp, the skeleton of a dwarf elephant, dating back to 260,000 years ago, and some specimens of the giant edible dormouse, red deer and wild boar, kept at the Civic Museum Torre di Ligny of Trapani.

24. See

    House of Cielo d'Alcamo

    A popular legend says that here lived the famous poet Ciullo d'Alcamo, a native writer of this city. On the façade, there is the main door and an arched window, realized with limestone travertinoide. Above the door you can see a decoration in high relief, with a compass and a delineator in its middle, between two big drakes ridden by two small angels with a trident in their hands.

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    Monument to Cielo d'Alcamo

    Villa Cassarà

    Inside Mariano Cassarà's garden (a sculptor), now his heirs' property, you can see the monument (with a fountain) realized in 1990 for the Town of Alcamo and that, after various vicissitudes, postponements and missing payments by all the civic administrations, has remained in the ownership of the artist. The work faithfully represents the scene of the famous love Contrasto "Rosa Fresca Aulentissima" written in 1240 by Cielo d'Alcamo, considered the first Italian poet who used the vernacular. The central body includes the two bronze statues representing the poet and his beloved; they are surrounded by an artistic marble fountain (travertine, completed with the insignia of Alcamo in the back part of the monument). In the garden you can also admire other works realized by Mariano Cassarà.

    Visits only for groups of people by appointment

26. See

    Museum of Contemporary Art

    MACA

    The museum is divided into various sections: you can see the paintings of Turi Simeti, Vito Bongiorno, Gisella Giovenco, the plaster casts of Nicola Rubino and other works.

    Closed · opens 9:30 am tomorrow·free entrance

27. See

    Museum of Multiethnic Musical Instruments "Fausto Cannone"

    There are 202 musical instruments: rebab, sarinda, gansira, swarpeti, bansuri, takita, marambao, vojnica, iakir and many others collected all over the world by the music teacher Fausto Cannone from Alcamo; there are instruments and sounds coming from different peoples: from Thailand to Tibet, from New Guinea to South America, from Polynesia to China, from Australia to Argentina, South Africa and various European countries.

    Daily 16:30-19:30·Free

28. See

    Palazzo Ferrara

    In a classical style, it was built in 1909 by the brothers Benedetto and Graziano Ferrara. The main façade is rusticated, with three round-arched openings. The main balcony is supported by brackets of limestone travertinoide, and has a wrought iron railing.

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    Palazzo Fraccia

    In baroque style, it was built about the year 1700. Above the balcony, there is the family coat of arms: an injured heart surmounted by a crown.

30. See

    Palazzo Pastore

    Built at the end of the 18th century in neoclassical style: some elements of the façade are similar to those of the Basilica and Palazzo Di Gregorio in via Dante.

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    Palazzo Patti

    Built in the 18th century, it has been totally restored internally. On the ground floor, there are three entrances, today leading into three shops, and an arch at the beginning of via Pipitone Cangialosi. The portal has two decorated lenses. The openings in the balconies are surmounted by a stone fronton.

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    Palazzo Peria

    Built in about the year 1700; this palace has two floors and has been restored with the Livigni method.

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    Palazzo Rocca

    It was built about the year 1629. Its portals and brackets are made with carved stones.

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    Palazzo Rossotti-Chiarelli

    Built in the 18th century, it has a portal, railings and balconies in a baroque style.

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    Parco Suburbano San Francesco

    The park is managed by the Association "Laurus" of Alcamo. Thanks to its volunteers, this green lung with hundreds of plants of the Mediterranean flora, gives the chance to children and adults to relax in the middle of its green. Inside there are a children's playground and a small zoo farm.

    Closed · opens 9:30 am tomorrow·free

36. See

    Pia Opera Pastore

    Designed by the architect Giovan Battista Palazzotto in 1872, the building is in a neoclassical style, with triangular windows. On the main door, there is the family coat of arms represented with a sheperd's crook, three stars and a tower.

37. See

    Roman furnaces

    The site is about 2,500 square metres wide; in 2000 they discovered three furnaces, built between the 1st century AD and the second half of the 5th century AD. They have a circular shape, with a diameter of about 3 m and with an unusual state of preservation. At the moment it cannot be visited.

38. See

    Sacred Art Museum

    The museum hosts a lot of paintings, sculptures and jewels coming from churches, dating back to the period from the 13th and 19th centuries, for a total of 150 works that are exhibited in an area of about. These works had been sheltered there after the 1968 Belice earthquake by monsignore Vincenzo Regina, archpriest from 1944 to 1991.

    Mon-Fri 09:30-12:45·€3, reduced €2

39. See

    Saints Cosma and Damiano's Church

    Chiesa dei Santi Cosma e Damiano or Santa Chiara

    Built in 1500 and rebuilt between 1721-1725.It has a baroque style and inside there are two sculptures by Serpotta.

40. See

    Sanctuary of Madonna of Miracles

    Santuario di Maria Santissima dei Miracoli

    The sanctuary, dedicated to the patroness of Alcamo, was built in 1547 by order of the governor and captain of justice Fernando Vega, and following the discovery of an icon of Madonna of Miracles in a small chapel which had been abandoned. Afterwards the sanctuary was modified several times, with a restoration in the first years of the 18th century.

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Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Alcamo (CC BY-SA 4.0).