Travel Guide Santa Lucia Del Mela

This small town in the Peloritani mountains, situated in the hinterland of Milazzo (6 km away), is the ancient Mankarru. It was a strategic site that for a long time housed a military garrison. Ruins and two tombs dating back to the 2nd century B.C. attest to the Greco-Roman presence. The Byzantines built a fort on these walls, which was rebuilt by the Arabs in the mid-9th century. Two large towers, the surrounding wall and the chapel remain. The Norman king Roger had the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, dedicated to Santa Lucia, built at the foot of the castle after driving out the Saracens in 1094 (it was later redesigned). A walk will take you to various palaces, the Prelatizio Palace of 1609, the Municipal Palace in Piazza Duomo and the Basil-Vasari Palace. The town is home to no less than twelve churches (St. Nicholas, the Sacred Heart, the Annunziata, the Church of the Capuchins, St. Francis, St. Catherine, among others), the sanctuary dedicated to Santa Maria della Neve, which houses, among other things, a marble statue of St. Lucy and an Assumption by Novelli, as well as a silver hand (relic of Santa Lucia), made in the 6th century by a master silversmith from Messina, Francesco Bruno. From the sanctuary, the 360-degree view of the bay of Milazzo is breathtaking.