Discover Melilli: Nature, Baroque and Holiday Apartments

Melilli combines karst landscapes with churches, underground quarries, a religious festival tradition and local cuisine. You can also choose your holiday apartment in Melilli with this interplay of landscape, history and local way of life in mind.

Karst landscapes and paths through nature

The Grotta Palombara Integral Nature Reserve is located in the Monti Climiti area, in the eastern part of the Hyblaean Plateau and within the municipality of Melilli. It protects a significant karst cave system in eastern Sicily with diverse cave fauna. Grotta Palombara is also part of an educational tour that includes a guided visit to the Museo del Carsismo Ibleo in Syracuse.

Another natural-history aspect is presented by the Villasmundo-S. Alfio Integral Nature Reserve. There, the reserve protects an active karst system with streams that carry water year-round, as well as numerous stalactites and stalagmites. In Zone B, the nature reserve also includes the “due passi nel bosco” nature trail. Villasmundo-S. Alfio is likewise part of an educational tour with a guided visit to the Museo del Carsismo Ibleo in Syracuse.

The Villasmundo Cave stretches for approximately 2 kilometres and leads to a terminal lake about 50 metres deep. MU.S.A. complements this focus with an experience-oriented museum route through the places, history and biodiversity of the Terrazza degli Iblei.

Stone, churches and the history of the Val di Noto

The Pirrera Sant’Antonio is an underground quarry in the northeastern part of the Monti Climiti near Melilli and is considered unique among underground quarries throughout the Mediterranean region. For centuries, it was the main extraction site for Melilli’s famous white building stone. The stone was used for churches, palaces and monuments in southeastern Sicily and contributed in the 17th and 18th centuries to the reconstruction of the towns of the Val di Noto destroyed by the 1693 earthquake, as well as to the development of Sicilian Baroque.

The churches also tell the story of this era. The Chiesa Madre di San Nicolò Vescovo was completed in 1760 and consecrated on 28 October 1763 by Antonio De Requisens, Archbishop of Syracuse. Today’s Basilica of San Sebastiano was built from 1695 onwards after the earlier church had been destroyed by the 1693 earthquake.

The religious tradition includes the belief that during the novena before the feast of the Madonna delle Grazie, a small statue of the Madonna “a Bambinedda” is carried from house to house in Melilli. Monetary donations for the church are attached to the statue. The Serbatoio di Costa Farina offers a different, technically focused perspective on the town: the waterworks facility, which is still operational today, regulates the water supply of the inhabited centre of Melilli.

The necropolis of Contrada Bernardina comprises approximately 50 tombs from the Castelluccio culture.

Local flavours

One of the culinary specialities is u cudduruni a miliddisa, a traditional focaccia from Melilli made with durum wheat semolina. It is topped with anchovies preserved in oil, onions, oregano and sun-dried tomatoes; local Caciocavallo is sometimes added.

Other destinations in the surrounding area

For further orientation, you can also discover Villa Vela, Rosolini, Fontane Bianche, Granelli, Villasmundo, Floridia, Carrozziere and San Corrado Di Fuori.

For the overarching travel overview: Syracuse.