The cycle of guided tours at the Solanto Castle opens on Sunday 12 May, opening to visits for the first time, born from the collaboration between Terradamare and Princess Gloria Vanni Calvello Mantegna of the Princes of San Vincenzo
Solanto Castle: the gripping story of one of the oldest Sicilian fiefdoms overlooking the sea
Sunday 12 May 2024
We will visit: the lush garden surrounded by the sea and the tuna fishery, among the oldest in Sicily, immersed in the overwhelming natural beauty of Sicily and in the stories of the fishermen and aristocratic families who inhabited it
On the first day of visits: tasting of Duca di Salaparuta wines
Solanto Castle
Via Castello 20, Santa Flavia (PA)
Visit duration: approximately 1 hour. Ticket: €15, reduced 5/10 years €8.
Visiting hours: 10.30am – 11.30am – 12.30pm
To participate you must purchase tickets in advance
Infoline: 320.7672134 – 3928888953 [email protected] terradamare.org/castello-di-solanto-visite
A walk through the thousand-year history of tuna fishing in Sicily, which found great productive success in the Solanto trap, linked to traditions, rites and spells that have left their mark on our entire culture, guests of the Princess Gloria Vanni Calvello Mantegna of the Princes of San Vincenzo
The village of Solanto it inherited the name from the nearby Phoenician town of Solanto and the tuna fishery appears to be among the oldest of the Sicilian ones. These structures will have an important role in the daily life of Sicilians, from their inescapable connection with the sea, to the daily rituals linked to tuna fishing, up to the urban evolution linked to the economic development of the tuna fishery itself.
The Castle of Solantowhich rises above the sea, was built to defend the ancient tuna fishery, configuring a building with majestic and imposing architecture, which in a dynamic way, through its terraces and lush garden, allows you to immerse yourself in the fairy-tale panorama that surrounds it .
The Solanto Tonnara , the center of gravity of the local economy, was built at the end of the 17th century and consists of a single room with double royal vaults built with blocks of sandstone which give the room a warm and evocative golden effect. It was really important for the economy of the whole kingdom, in fact, it also supplied fresh and salted fish to the convents and hospitals of Palermo but not only
Furthermore, over the centuries, various characters have come and gone, both of royal lineage and members of noble classes, in fact in 1410 Queen Bianca of Navarre took refuge there to escape the dangers of the Count of Modica, in the 16th century it came to the Alliata, subsequently the Filangeri, and Ferdinand IV of Bourbon was also hosted there and, from 1870, it came to the current owners, the Vanni princes of San Vincenzo.
In 1963, the well-known director Luchino Visconti made the film The Leoparda masterpiece of cinematography, but not only that, since it will trace the streets of the city most suitable and faithful to the transposition of the novel, it will be able to recreate nineteenth-century environments, paying attention to every single detail.
Two splendid actors will arrive a year earlier in Sicily precisely to contribute to the making of the film, Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon, who during a break in filming were guests in the Castle of Solanto, also remaining enchanted and entranced by that gulf with waters crystal clear.
Its position and its theatrical terraces allow us, today, to immerse ourselves in the exuberant naturalistic beauty of Sicily, of the lives of the fishermen, of the aristocratic families who crossed the daily lives of the latter and the diversified maritime activities that have marked the pages of a archaic history of symbolic practices and delicate balances
