Bronte

Bronte is a municipality in the province of Catania famous throughout the world for the production of Pistachio, the green gold.

The construction of its settlement dates back to the very distant 8th century B.C. by the Siculians, quite different from the story handed down in the form of legend that it was Bronte, the Cyclops son of Neptune who founded it and proclaimed himself its king.

The town of some 20,000 inhabitants is located in the Simeto Valley, on a lava slope to the northwest of the volcano and which, despite this, has been exploited agriculturally in the best possible way. This expert knowledge derives from ancient Arab teachings, whose culture succeeded in planting pistachio trees despite the difficulties of the lava rock. The terms ‘Frastuca’ (the fruit) and ‘Frastucara’ (the plant) derive from the Arabic terms ‘fristach’, ‘frastuch’ and ‘festuch’.

Monuments

Among the most famous monuments is Castello Nelson, followed by the Real Collegio Capizzi, which today houses the Bourbon library with the archives of local history. It houses valuable literary works dating from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Nelson’s Castle, also known as “Castello Maniace”, was built on the ‘trazzera’ that represented a very important passage in Sicily. It was the site of Norman battles, the route to Palermo and the gateway for the Arabs.