Monuments
Piazza Armerina
Aragonese Castle
It was built in the late 1300s, during the reign of King Martin I of Aragon, who resided there for a long time, while the old castle, located on the opposite end of the hill, was dismantled and given to the Franciscans to build a convent. Like the castles of Frederick II, it has a regular quadrilateral plan, capped at the corners by massive asymmetrical quadrangular towers, and rests on a high base with oblique corner spurs, built later.
Of the original building, significantly elevated with a triple row of rooms, only two remain. The entrance faces south and retains the remains of a small doorway. It served as a district prison; purchased by a private individual in the 1970s, it is now closed to the public.
The Cathedral
It dominates the city with its mass, which it announces from afar with its high dome.
Built between 1604 and 1719, it stands on the same site where the city’s mother church had stood since the 15th century, an elegant church in Gothic-Aragonese style, enriched between the 15th and 16th centuries with a superb bell tower and a Gagini-esque marble arch in the baptistery, but damaged by an earthquake.
In 1598, Baron Marco Trigona had made the Mother Church universal heir to all his assets, with the obligation to build a more sumptuous building. The task of drawing up the project was entrusted to the architect Orazio Torriani, who decided to incorporate the old bell tower and the Gagini arch into the new construction.
Soaring upwards by frontal and lateral stairways, it culminates in the lantern of the beautiful and majestic dome, 76.50 m high, with a diameter of 13.88 m, which develops over the transept.
The tall and severe front elevation features two orders of pilasters, enlivened by a large tympanum window and a large portal with twisted columns, built in 1719, which is accessed by two staircases.
On the right side, the robust mass of the 44 m high limestone bell tower, which on the two lower levels is decorated with elegant Gothic-Aragonese style inflected architrave windows, while the two upper levels are in Renaissance style with flat limestone windows between sandstone pilasters.
The side elevations are enriched with balustrades and windows. The Latin cross interior, with a single wide nave and interconnecting side chapels, is punctuated by superb pillars with paired pilasters and expands into the transept thanks to the light that pours in from the large dome and the painted windows of the presbytery.
Garibaldi Theater
The “Garibaldi” municipal theater is a typical example of an “Italian-style” theater. Restored to its original splendor by a series of renovations over the past few years, it hosts theater, jazz, and classical music festivals, cultural events, and even film screenings in an elegant neoclassical setting. With a 119-seat auditorium, three tiers of boxes, and a gallery, for a total of 320 seats, it is open to visitors and tourists. The theater dates back to the early 18th century, making it one of the oldest public theaters in Sicily.
It has been rebuilt and enriched several times. The ceiling was painted by Giuseppe Paladino in the early 1900s, during the construction of the entrance, foyer, and current façade. The previous one, enriched by a portico, had been demolished by the collapse of the 14th-century city wall against which the theater is built. The façade features bas-relief faces of Alfieri, Bellini, Goldoni, and Verdi, two statues representing the dramatic and musical arts. The Ragusa stone sculptures are the work of Pasquale Massa. The stalls are dedicated to Antonio il Verso, a Renaissance musician from Piazza Armerina, composer of music that remains part of the repertoire of numerous European groups. The small square in front of the theater is named after the Swiss composer Carlo Florindo Semini, who composed a suite in the 1960s entitled “The Mosaics of Piazza Armerina.”
Medieval walls and Porta Castellina
Looking at the old city from the north, you can see the landscape of the popular Castellina district, dominated above by the bulk of the Cathedral and closed below by the remains of the medieval walls, with a crumbling gate and a circular tower.
General Cascino
Piazza Gen. Cascino is dominated in the center by the large Monument to General Antonio Cascino (1862-1917), a Piazzese hero of the First World War, who from his high pedestal urged his infantrymen to attack before being shot himself. The marble and bronze monument is the work of the Piazzese architect D. Roccella and A. De Marchis.
