Top Historic Sights in Adrano, Italy
Explore the historic highlights of Adrano
Adrano Norman Castle
Castle of Norman origin (Castello Normanno) is located in the centre of Adrano, built in 1070 on behalf of Norman king Roger I. They probably built the keep on the ruins of a pre-existing Muslim fortress at this site. Its purpose was to ensure control over a large portion of the surrounding Etna area. Inside the castle is the archaeological museum with antique findings of the region.Monastero di Santa Lucia
Monastero di Santa Lucia (Monastery of Saint Lucy) is an architectural complex in the city of Adrano. The former monastery currently serves as an elementary school. The monastery was founded in 1157 and was rebuilt in the 15th and 17th centuries. The church adjoining the monastery was erected in 1596 and was rebuilt in the late 18th century. The façade has three orders. Two bell towers rise on the sides with quadrangula ...Solicchiata Castle
The Solicchiata castle was built a few kilometers outside the town of Adrano around 1875 at the behest of Baron Spitaleri who intended to build a building for rural use in the Solicchiata district. It became an important industry for the production of wine, the so-called 'Solicchiata wine'. The architecture refers to the medieval style, the castle is built in lava stone, surrounded by a moat and accessible via a ...Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings
Historic Site of the week
Broch of Gurness
The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.
The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.
The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.
The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.
Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.
At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.
In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.