Militello in Val di Catania

There are two theories about the first settlement of the town: the first one is about the foundation by the soldiers led by Marcello during the siege of Syracuse (214 BC); the second one is about an isolated settlement consisting of a farmhouse of the Byzantine period, with evidences found in several caves, some with traces of sacred frescoes. During the Middle Ages, the town developed on the coasts of the St. Vito and St. Barbara valleys, with the castle of Branciforte. Destroyed by the 1693 earthquake, it was rebuilt in the same place.
Among the must-see monuments: the huge complex of the Church of St. Benedict and the annexed Benedictines’ Monastery, which today is the Town Hall, founded in 1614 and completed in 1649; the Mother Church St. Nicolò and St. Salvatore, on the top of a lava stone staircase; it was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1693 and at its basement it hosts the museum of St. Nicolò; the Church of Santa Maria della Stella, which today is a sanctuary, dedicated to the main patroness of the city; Palazzo Baldanza-Denaro, of the beginning of the 18th century with bright carvings in the balconies shelves and gables; Palazzo Reforgiato, a typical example of the 18th century’s Sicilian aristocratic house; the Angel’s Oratory, with a beautiful tiled floor with majolica of Caltagirone of 1785, with a large single-themed pattern; the Church of St. John the Baptist, with the annexed former convent converted into housings, with ceramic floors with a serial pattern.