Walking Tour: Centro storico di Castelbuono, Palermo, Sicilia

A small medieval village nestled in the Madonie Park with a delightful historic centre that captivates from the first moment.

Strolling through its streets is like entering a fairy tale: it seems as if you are watching ladies and knights parading with rustling brocade robes and complicated hairstyles. The fairytale becomes reality at the beginning of the summer, when the historical processions materialise, parading among tapestries of fresh flowers in the Infiorata di Castelbuono.

As in any self-respecting fairy tale, the town is built around the imposing Ventimiglia Castle, near a Byzantine farmhouse called Ypsigro.

Built by the powerful Count Francesco I Ventimiglia in 1317 on a pre-existing 12th-century watchtower, it housed the court of one of the most influential families in Sicilian history, who were even more powerful than the viceroys! These influential counts, who rebelled against the Sicilian rulers,

also had their own Palatine Chapel, which is still to this day a precious treasure trove, decorated with enchanting stucco work on a pure gold leaf background by the brothers Giuseppe and Giacomo Serpotta (1684–87). Behind the altar is the skull of Saint Anne, the town's patron saint, inside a fine silver bust reliquary from 1521.