Height 8 meters above sea level
Tourism Office tel 0941902822
People 12000
Shopping:
Local pastries
“frutta martorana”
“pignolata”
fish
icecreams and “granite” (drink made with crushed ice, syrup
and sugar).
How to get there:
Highway A20 exit Brolo-Capo d’Orlando Est (7 km) or Rocca di Caprileone-Capo
d’Orlando Ovest (3 km)
According
to a legend, the old “Agatirno” was founded and named by the
son of Aeolus, in the period of the Troy war, and from then it stands,
beautiful and proud, in the Thyrrenian coast.
The suggestive and romantic lighthouse, situated under the mountain that
is surmounted by the Sanctuary and by the ruins of the medieval “Castle
of Orlando”, marks the front rank of its territory. Three thousand
years run, between history and legend, leaving the sign on the territory
where the Mediterranean maquis, the reef, peculiar monolithic rocks, host
one of the main tourist centres of Sicily.
In these historic traces, from the patrician Villa Bagnoli to the findings
of the “Cave del Mercadante”, from the legend about the Dionysian
cults and the fishermen songs telling the Saracen raids, from the epos
of Tomasi di Lampedusa up to now, there is a common denominator: the sea,
always part of the once commercial and today tourist life of Capo d’Orlando.
A pure and inviting sea rich in little treasures, and capable of giving
white breams, basses, and “pettini” and the remains of the
olden times. A friendly and lovable sea like the people of Capo d’Orlando,
a sea that remembers the good old days. A sea that requires respect for
its uncontrolled and free power. A respect known only by those who travel
by sea and that here find the right place to be reassured and dandled
by the waves. A sea that evokes the creatures of the abyss, with its depth
full of fishes, that at night time is filled by lights, sounds, magic
rituals, a sea that takes to the Aeolian Islands, becoming source of inspiration
for poets and painters, and that reveals its strong and rich nature. Capo
d’Orlando is today a place where the past and the present live together
in a perfect balance, creating suggestive events and moments where tradition
and folklore live on for the tourists and the people who belong to this
town.
| The” Bastione” | “Cave del Mercadante” | Ruins of the Castle |
| These are the ruins of a Castle nearby Capo’Orlando in Malvicino place. No news about the date of its construction; the architectonic structure is similar to a camillanea tower with its peculiar square plant. The Bastione” is a three floors building: the base, with no way in, containing a tank, the operational floor and the terrace maybe used for observation and defending purposes. | Located between the wharves of the tourist haven in San Gregorio place, they can be seen at the time of the low tide when from the rib it emerges a rocky structure on which the work of the man shaped big disks of stone. They are one hundred metres long, and 4-5 metres wide. The diameter of the ruts goes from one to two metres with a ten centimetres depth dig. | They are situated on the promontory and thus give the sensation that in past age the Castle had the function to sight and defend from the pirate-ships. According to the legend it was so-named after Charlemagne, passing in Sicily when coming back from Palestine. The date of its construction is not well known; maybe it replaced another one existing at the time of the old Agatirno. |