Aci Castello is a seaside town in the Province of Catania, set on Sicily’s eastern coast around a dark lava-rock promontory overlooking the sea. Its main square opens towards the water and the Riviera dei Ciclopi, giving the town a coastal character shaped as much by volcanic stone as by its position on the Ionian shore.
The town’s identity is closely tied to its Norman origins: the first settlement developed around a fortress built in 1076, and was later granted by Count Roger to the bishops of Catania. Tradition also connects Aci Castello and the other “Aci” towns with Xiphonia, remembered as a mysterious lost Greek city, while local mythology links this stretch of coast to Polyphemus and to the story of Acis and Galatea.
Destroyed by a severe earthquake around 1170 and repopulated in 1530 with nearby villages, Aci Castello later passed to the Massa family until the end of feudal rule. Today its distinctiveness lies in that meeting of lava cliff, sea horizon, Norman memory and mythic coastline.
Patron Saint:
Saint Maurus Abbot (San Mauro Abate) – 15 January
Nearest Airport:
Catania (Fontanarossa) – (42 km, 00:39)
Neighboring Cities:
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