Tortorici

Tortorici

In a suggestive valley, surrounded by mountains and hills scattered with houses, lakes and a strong presence of numerous woods rich in hazelnut groves, the nicknamed “City of Hazelnut” rises: Tortorici!

It is a village characterized by a medieval city wall: its expansion was started in 1300, with the construction of churches, palaces, factories and shops. However, this town reached its moments of greatest splendor in the following centuries, as an artistic craftsmanship flourished there of which works have defied the centuries, based on the art of bronze casting, copper working and agriculture. With the beginning of our century, the Tortoricians, given the varied vegetation of hazelnut, chestnut and beech groves, began to promote intense commercial activities, mainly using the precious product of hazelnuts.

You should know that Tortorici, as well as having a nickname, is remembered both as "City of Bells" and as "Valley of Ingenuity" as there is an ancient foundry of bells, actually the only one among the ancient ones left in Sicily, that I suggest you visiting!

Today, Tortorici keeps its typical medieval urban structure as in the feudal period: narrow cobbled streets, arches, ancient underpasses, courtyards and stairways which confer a particular charm. The town is rich in churches, including the Church of San Francesco or the Convent of the Friars Minor, rebuilt in 1602; the Church of the Annunciation or Batia, where mass was celebrated until 1963, when it was closed for worship and starting from the late 1990s it was used for cultural activities; the Church of San Nicolò di Bari, considered to be the oldest one. There is also the Church of Santa Maria Assunta, from which it is possible to hear the melodious sound of the bell: but you must be here only from the first to the twenty-eighth of January and on the second Sunday of May, periods of celebrations in honor of St. Sebastian patron of Tortorici (January 20th) and protector of the Municipal Police, to be able to hear the sounds of these bells! Lastly, there is the Church of Santa Emerenziana, which protrudes on a rock outcrop.

Although, Tortorici is not just made of suggestive narrow streets and ancient churches from the past! You can visit both the "Sebastiano Franchina" ethno-anthropological museum which collects the work tools and products of that agro-pastoral and artisan civilization of the Nebrodi, which is still perpetuated today here in Tortorici, and the ethno-photographic museum "Franchina - Letizia”, the largest of those still existing in Sicily and the second most important in all of Italy!! These museums constitute for Tortorici a real reservoir of its historical, sentimental and territorial memory, such as to preserve the cultural identity of this village!!

And consider, the territory of Tortorici is so naturally rich it has stretches of water, some of natural origin such as Lake Pisciotto and Lake Trearie, and other man-made basins, such as Lake Li Perni, all of great naturalistic and landscape interest.

But we're not done yet! Tortorici, on a cultural level, preserves real traditional music and dances, in particular, the song "A Nucciddara" and the dance "Lanzet", both of pastoral tradition that still continue to be handed down among the inhabitants of Tortorici. So why not enjoy the cultural, monumental and natural beauties of the enchanting Tortorici village? We are looking forward to welcoming you at this incomparable beauty of the landscape, unspoiled nature and numerous lakes, to renew the inextricable bond linking man and the history of the surrounding area!!