Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
From Piazza Stazione, in front of the train station, regular buses run to Agrigento and
nearby towns, as well as Syracuse and Caltanissetta.
CAR
Gela is well connected by road: the SS115 leads westwards to Agrigento and east to
Ragusa and Modica, while the SS117bis connects with Caltagirone (via the SS417) and
Piazza Armerina. Follow the signs for the town centre and museum, which is at the east-
ern end of Corso Vittorio Emanuele, the town's principal east-west street.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Hilltop Towns
From Gela, it's an easy 20km drive along the SP8 up to the lovely hilltop village of
Butera
.
Prosperous and content under the Spanish rule of the Branciforte family, Butera lacks the
down-at-heel atmosphere of many rural towns in the interior, even if its location ensures
an air of self-sufficient isolation. It has a lovely town church, the
Chiesa Madre
, with some
modest treasures, a Renaissance triptych and a painting of the Madonna by Filippino
Paladino, but the main sight is the panorama that unfolds beneath you from the hilltop
Nor-
man castle
.
Continuing northwards, winding through kilometres of deserted farmland, passing the
occasional tractor, the SS190 leads up to
Mazzarino
, the historic seat of the Branciforte
clan. Now a small, sleepy town, it's definitely worth a quick look for its clutch of baroque
churches, many of which boast works of art by the Tuscan 16th-century artist Filippino
Paladino, and the ostentatious funerary monuments of the Branciforte princes. Many of
the churches are closed to the public, but you can get into them by asking at the super-
helpful
tourist office
(
093 438 49 84; Corso Vittorio Emanuele 410;
9am-1pm & 4-8pm summer, 9am-1pm
& 3-7pm winter)
on the main street.
