Itineraries
The 12 Comunes
How to reach us

The town of Manfred immersed in greenery

Chiaramonte Gulfi stands in a panoramic position, from which one’s gaze is projected towards the valley of the Ippari. Near the present-day town there was the ancient Akrillai later destroyed by the Arabs. The surviving inhabitants sheltered on the slopes of Monte Arcibessi, where they founded a new place, called Gulfi, destroyed by the French in 1299, in the course of the various events following the Vespers revolution. When the Angevins were driven out, the running of the town was taken over by Manfredi Chiaramonte, who gave it its present name, to which in 1881 there was added that of Gulfi, thename ofthe old centre near which there is the famous shrine dedicated to the Madonna. In the Santa Margherita area, not far from the shrine, there are some grottoes in which there are preserved remains of medieval frescos showing the Crucifixion of Christ and perhaps also of Santa Margherita, to whose cult there is linked an ancient folk legend relating to the liberation of the Gulfi territory from the menacing presence of a serpent.

In the central part of Chiaramonte Gulfi there is the cathedral church, dedicated to Santa Maria La Nova, the San Filippo church and the Salvatore church. A magnificent urban and artistic view is afforded by the San Giovanni church, to be seen at the gate leading into the cit adel of the Chiaramontes. Sculpted in this gate, which is in the Gothic style, there is a low-relief of the Annunciation. Other churches in the old part are dedicated to the Madonna del Gesù, to which there is annexed the Franciscan convent, to Santa Teresa and to San Giuseppe. Outside the town there is the San Vito church.

The little town of Chiaramonte Gulfi is immersed in greenery, consisting fundamentally of vegetable gardens, almond trees and above all olive trees, the main source of the agricultural economy of the little fown, which however is also famous for its renowned gastronomy linked to the cooking of pork.

The cathedral church at Chiaramonte Gulfi was begun around the middle of the fifteenth century in accordance with a basilica model with columns with grooved bases and pointed arches. Because of the slowness with which work proceeded, on the original design others with different cultural connotations were superimposed. The elegant first level of the facade, dating from 1608, is part of a new configu¬ration given to the church starting from the 1570’s. This was an erudite modifi¬cation which, denying spatial quality to three naves of the church, applied a model (Serilo’s “Corinthian temple”) with slight variants and revealed a by no means superficial knowledge of treatises on the subject. Subsequent work to complete the facade and restructure the interior was done both in the second half of the eighteenth century and in the late nineteenth century.

Testi © Azienda Autonoma Provinciale per l'Incremento Turistico di Ragusa
Via Capitano Bocchieri, 33 - 97100 RAGUSA
tel. 0932 221511 - fax 0932 221555

Foto © Studio Scivoletto