The city is full of churches, museums, former monasteries, palaces and fountains.
The festival of mustard and prickly pear is celebrated. Due to the great value of its monumental heritage, in 2002 it was included, together with seven other late Baroque cities of the Val di Noto, in the list of sites declared World Heritage by UNESCO.
The origins of Militello in Val di Catania are not based on documentable sources, but there is no lack of evidence of Neolithic, Sicilian and Greek civilizations. According to a tradition, essentially referred to by the historian Pietro Carrera, its foundation would refer to the presence of the Roman legionaries of the Consul Marcellus engaged in the siege of Syracuse (214 BC), attracted by the salubrity of the air and the amenity of the places, a circumstance that would explain the origin of the town's toponym as Militum Tellus (land of soldiers).
This hypothesis was taken up in the "Cronache" by Filippo Caruso where another version is also reported, which traces the origins of Militello to Mycenaean exiles, who emigrated from their city after the destruction caused by the Dorians in 563 BC.
The hypothesis of an ancient Greek settlement was also supported in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when famous historians sought in these places the tangible signs of ancient Sicilian cities, such as Erice, Trinakia and Neai. In reality it seems that the first urban nucleus arose in the Byzantine age, in the valley of the Lèmbasi river, south of the current town, and that this then extended and consolidated during the Arab domination.
A historically reliable reconstruction of the city begins with the Norman advent, when Militellum is alternatively granted to the various lords who take direct dominion over it.
But essentially two families have characterized the history of Militello: the Barresi and the Branciforte. With these families Militello will reach an artistic and political flowering that will reach its peak in the first half of the seventeenth century, thanks to the enlightened government of possible from his marriage to Donna Giovanna D'Austria daughter of Charles V who inspired him and led the reconstruction - architectural and monumental construction in the name of the beauty of the baroque town of Militello in Val di Catania.
Militello in Val di Catania
Address: Atrio del Castello, 95043
Phone: 095 7941111
Site:
http://www.comunemilitello.it/militello/zf/index.php/storia-comuneLocation inserted by
Gaetano La Tella