Height 450 m. above the sea level.
Tourism Office tel. 0941582604.
People 2200
Shopping:
“pasti di mennula” (almond pastries), “nzuddi”
(biscuits), “hard” biscuits, local red wine, oil and honey.
How to get there:
highway A20, exit Brolo, road-fork for Ficarra.
Ficarra is a small medieval centre, rich in art, history and old traditions, situated close to the Thyrrenian coast, up on the Nebrodi Mountains. Its origins disappear in the myth. It seems, indeed, that the Saracens founded it. Numerous and interesting old artistic and architectonic evidences already survive in Ficarra. The medieval centre of the town is located around three little hills, on which there are the Castle, the old Observant Friary and the suggestive Mother Church, containing the marble statue of Our Lady of Annunciation, an excellent work made by Gagini, and a Polyptych made by Antonello da Messina. Its mostly hilly land, full in Mediterranean vegetation, is characterized by citrus fruit, olive, hazel-nut and grape cultivations, and it is rich in little rivers (“fiumare”) that flow in the valleys. Signs of the old peasant-culture still endure in the small villages around Ficarra: Matini, Sauro, Crocivia, Rinella are the ideal places for tasting traditional cooking and good quality wine. Ficarra even now celebrates the old traditions, above all the religious ones like the Feast for Our Lady of the Annunciation, taking place on August (3rd-5th), in an atmosphere of faith and devotion. Handicraft, like embroideries, carvings and wrought-iron works, is still practised. The town hall, inside the tourism office, hosts one of the most important rural traditions: the silkworm breeding. Every year, from April to September it is possible to admire the entire cycle of the silkworm, from larva to butterfly, while in the non-production period it is possible to visit a standing exhibition of photos. The town offers alternative ways of tourism, and it deserves visitors able to catch its beauty. There they will discover, in the old streets paved with stones, in the narrow and twisted paths surmounted by humble towered houses, where the way in is granted by outside stairs and typical galleries, and in the old palaces with stone portals enriched by aristocratic coats of arms representing the local families, a submissive but nonetheless vivid history.
| The Benedictine Church | Eighteenth-century-portal | Ficarra palace |
| it is also called “Badia”; inside there are: the marble statue representing the Virgin of the Grace, probably made by Rinaldo Bonanno, the papier-mâché statues of Saint Basil and Saint Benedict, the grave of the Baroness of Martini, an old organ, a fresco ceiling; in the centre the ancient Piccolos’ palace and its baroque balconies. | it is made of sandstone, richly carved by local sculptors. The suggestive interior is at one nave and two aisles; in the back of the nave there is a recently restored organ, its ornamental decors are the same of the wooden pulpit, and behind the high altar there is a wooden chancel. | the historical monument, belonging to the Milios, has been recently acquired by the town administration. Inside there are splendid adorned salons. The local administration aims at exploiting the building. |