BURGIO

Burgio, some 3,500 inhabitants, belongs to the Agrigento province. The city boasts well developed commercial businesses, notably the only foundry existing in Sicily, important for the production of bells and ceramics. Agriculture is as much important.

Burgio is a city of historical interest, with a castle of Arabian origin that was conquested and restructured by the Normans. In the following centuries the castle was owned by several aristocratic families, among which the Peraltas, until it was acquired by the town municipality. Today, it is reduced to very miserable conditions.

The Mother Church, dedicated to S. Antonio Abate, Burgio’s patron saint, is worth-seeing. Likely dating from the 12^th century and later refurbished, it is notably renowned for housing a fine Chapel dedicated to the Madonna of Trapani. It contains some precious works of art, like a 1600’s statue representing the Virgin Mary and Child by Vincenzo Gagini. Also worth-mentioning are the Church of San Giuseppe, with frescoes and precious decorations, the Church of San Vito, dating from the 1500s and, in the city surroundings, the Santuario di Rifesi, dedicated to Saint Mary, adjacent to a monastery.