PALAGONIA
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Palagonia is a city of nearly 16,000
inhabitants at 200 m a.s.l. especially renowned for its citrus-groves.
THE CITY
The Eremo di Santa Febronia, a cave-basilica
going back to the 6th-7th century AD, is a major
attraction for tourists. Dedicated to the city’s patron saint, it contains
beautiful frescoes dedicated to the Christ Pantocrator, the Martyrdom of Santa
Febronia, the Original Sin and a 1300’s Christ between the Virgin Mary and an Angel.
Erei mountains – Eremo di Santa
Febronia. Follow the SS 5385
from Palagonia towards Catania; take the right fork signposted for Contrada
Croce; 4.5km further on, as the road curves to the right, look out for a track
on the left barricaded by a metal barrier. The hermitage is a 15min walk up the
track. This evocative place is named after Santa Febronia, known locally as “a
Santuzza”, her relics brought here each year in a great procession from
neighboring Palagonia. The small retreat, carved out of the rock, is of
Byzantine origin. Inside, the apse contains a fine, albeit damaged, fresco of
Christ flanked by the Virgin and an angel.
HISTORY
Palagonia – 15km North-East, it is believed to
have been an important political and religious town at the time of the Sikels.
According to local legend, it was from the bubbling sulphurous waters of the
Laghetto di Naftia that their gods, the Palici, were born and it is to them
that they dedicated the temple, built on the edge of the lake. The small lake
is barely visible today, since masked by its natural gas that is industrially
exploited.
The area saw the Norman rise. The Count Roger
ceded the land and the entire area to the Bishop of Syracuse. Since 1407, it
belonged to Giacomo Gravina; his family ruling it throughout the centuries.