CANICATTINI BAGNI

Canicattini Bagni is located in the Siracusa province at 360m asl and has a population of about 7,800 inhabitants. It stretches on the lower slopes of the Iblean Mountains near the impressing Cave (caves) of the former fief of S. Alfano.

It was founded in the late-1600s by the Marquis Mario Daniele, possessor of the fiefs of Bagni, Canicattini and Bosco, who was granted by the Spanish rulers the permission to establish a new hamlet that would be called Bagni di Canicattini.

Following the terrible earthquake of 1693, it saw a demographic growth most due to the migration in town of many people from the ravaged towns of the Noto Valley.

In the city vicinity are some Byzantine necropolises – namely at Cozzo Guardiole and S. Elama – and christian and prehistoric ones – at S. Alfano and S. Martino districts.

The town main street, being in the older part of the town, is scattered with some lovely buildings, including the 1700’ Chiesa Madre, restructured in the second half of the 19^th century, with a rather simple interior and a single nave, the Palazzo Comunale, the Chiesa delle Anime Sante and several noble palazzi with finely decorated façades.

The city surroundings provide spots for beautiful excursions like the Ponte di S. Alfio – a 1700’s structure with a single arcade, built of the local natural stone and facing onto the Cava Cardinale –, the Cava Cardinale itself, offering a fine naturalistic landscape characterized by beautiful woods and farms.