MAZZARINO

The city of Mazzarino belongs to the province of Caltanissetta. Located 553m asl, it is partly bordered by the valley of the Braemi creek.

The earliest hamlet on the area goes back to the 13^th century, developed around a castle of which very little has remained. Since the early 1300s as far as the abolishment of feudalism in 1812, Mazzarino was a holding of the Branciforte family.

Mazzarino is a city of both artistical and historical interest. The Palazzo Branciforte is especially worth-seeing. It was built in successive epochs; the earliest part, dating from the 16^th century, was successively enlarged and restructured. It incorporates the Mother Church dedicated to Santa Maria della Neve.

The 1400’s Chiesa di Santa Maria del Gesù has a single nave ornamented with fine 1700’s frescoes. It preserves the marble sepulchre of Prince M. Carafa Branciforte, one of the Lords of the Town. The 1600’s complex of the Carmelite Fathers comprises a single-nave church and a former convent, now City Hall.

Among the minor churches, there are: the Virgin – renowned for a 1600’s painting by Paladino portraying the Virgin –, San Domenico – next to the convent of the Dominican Friars, housing a precious 1600’s painting by Filippo Paladino portraying the Virgin of the Holy Rosary –, the Santuario di Maria SS. del Mazaro, the 1500’s Convent of the Capuchins and the 1600’s Carmelite Convent.

A number of secular buildings are worth-seeing: the 1700’s Palazzo Adonino-Alberti, the Palazzo Bivona and the remnants of the Castle, consisting of a section of the outer walls and a circular tower.

Mazzarino surroundings claim interesting archaeological sites. Most remarkably – in the Sofiana district – is a settlement of Roman-Byzantine epoch, known as Philosophiana where a thermal complex and a Byzantine Basilica were brought to light.