Churches and monuments
Aidone
The Castle of Gresti or Pietratagliata
The Gresti Castle, also known as Pietratagliata Castle, is located in the Aidone area. Its current state is that of a ruin, although its appearance is clearly visible, consisting primarily of a massive solid tower and a series of cave rooms. Its origins are unclear; the first documented historical records date back to the 14th century. The castle ruins are still privately owned.
The Castle (U Castdazz)
Based on archaeological finds, such as some Litre and Dilitron of King Hiero II in the Castle area, it is possible that some structures were erected and used as watchtowers for the nearby city as early as the time of Morgantina. Traces of a road leading from the city to the vicinity of the Arab-Norman castle have been found.
The Cult
Church of Santa Maria La Cava
Seat of the Sanctuary dedicated to St. Philip the Apostle.
The history of this church is linked to the history of Sicily itself, as its foundation in 1134 AD by Countess Adelasia, niece of Count Roger of Hauteville, had the church and tower built by Cluniac monks following the Burgundian style.
The clerics who followed the Norman knights were employed to build the churches and towers, Arab craftsmen were employed for the stone carving works, while the work of Byzantine masters was used for the mosaics.
The apse of the church, the base of the tower with a cross vault and the beautiful entrance door facing south with its pointed arch are in Arab-Norman style.
Church and former convent of San Domenico
Construction began in 1419, designed by the Aidonese architect Vincenzo Di Luca, and is dedicated to Saint Vincent Ferrer, as evidenced by the inscription on the façade. The church features a white façade of diamond-pointed ashlar, a rare feature in religious buildings. On either side of the façade are two tall, slender sandstone cornerstones (sourced from the Montagna district), reflecting the Plateresque style that spread from Catalonia in the second half of the 15th century. The portal is particularly beautiful and meticulously crafted, flanked by two pilasters, again in the Plateresque style. The pilasters culminate in a Corinthian capital embellished with the faces of angels.
The church has a single nave, completed by an apse. When the architects restored the church after the 1693 earthquake, they left the right wall in bare stone and the other with eighteenth-century stucco. In the apse, there are few traces of a fifteenth-century rose window. On either side of the apse are two cornerstones (also in sandstone) topped with a Corinthian capital.
The convent, built next to the church, was an intense religious life for four centuries, until the disappearance of the Dominicans from Aidone. It was subsequently used as a boys’ elementary school until it was abandoned and collapsed.
