Santa Cristina Gela is a small inland hill village in the province of Palermo, set 674 metres above sea level on a rise overlooking the Malanoce valley. Its setting gives it a compact, rural character, with the scale of a tiny borgo rather than a large town, rooted in the hilly interior of western Sicily.
The village’s identity is closely tied to its Albanian origins. Its first settlement nucleus was founded in 1691 by an Albanian colony from nearby Piana dei Greci, today Piana degli Albanesi, and Albanian language, customs and traditions have remained part of its cultural memory. Originally known simply as Santa Cristina, it became Santa Cristina Gela in 1747, when Domenico Naselli, Duke of Gela, added the name linked to his title; the feud then remained with the Naselli family until the abolition of feudal rights.
Today, Santa Cristina Gela is distinctive for this combination of hill-village landscape, feudal history and Albanian-Sicilian heritage, a small community whose name and identity still reflect the layered origins of inland Sicily.
Patron Saint:
Saint Christina (Santa Cristina) – 24 July
Nearest Airport:
Palermo (Falcone-Borsellino) – (56 km, 00:59)
Neighboring Cities:
