SAN GIOVANNI GEMINI

San Giovanni Gemini is a city of some 8,500 inhabitants in the province of Agrigento, located on a slope nearby the Cammarata Mount at 670m a.s.l. and flanked by a green area known as the pineta (pine-wood). Its origin is strictly related to an earthquake dated 1451. Because of the collapse of the northern slopes of the Mount, the people there settled were granted by Count of Cammarata Federico I Abatellis the permission to migrate to a new site, within the territory of Cammarata. In 1587, the continued rivalry between the two settlements led Don Ercole Branciforte, Lord of Cammarata, to split them into two cities, a division that was to be re-confirmed by Count Don Luigi Moncada, Lord of San Giovanni, in the early 1700s.

It is a mainly agricultural city albeit both trade and industry have notably developed in the last years. Its territory is home to sites of high naturalistic interest such as the Cammarata Mount and the Montagnola Reserves, and the water springs of the Acqua Fitusa, also used for thermal purposes.

The city offers a number of attractions. Among these, are the Mother Church, dedicated to San Giovanni, completed in the 17^th century, and a 1500’s religious complex comprising a church and a convent, both dedicated to the Madonna del Carmine.