
	Regions	Landmarks	Lodging	Search
Regions in Italy Region Sicily Province Enna Comune Troina

Troina

Province of Enna, Sicilia (Sicily, Sizilien), Italy

Locality

This town of very ancient origin, of strategic importance for the communications between eastern and western Sicily, was fortified since antiquity, and until not long ago the highest part was dominated by a huge, massive fortress with many towers and four entrance gates. In the centuries of Saracen rule it was an example of co-existence of Christian and Muslim culture, as can still be seen in the Arab architecture of the district called Scalforio. Unfortunately a large part of the center was destroyed by Allied bombings (the Operation Husky) in the days 1 to 6 august 1943, which claimed over 100 civilian victims.

WHERE TO STAY: See Agritourism, Bed & Breakfast and Hotels in Troina with contact details.

INFO: Altitude: 1120 m a.s.l -- Population: about 10,000 inhabitants -- Zip/postal code: 94018 -- Phone Area Code: 0935 -- Patron Saint: San Silvestro celebrated at the end of May - early June

HISTORY: Archeological research, mostly carried out to the University of Cambridge, has shown that the area was inhabited by man since very ancient times, and Neolytic necropolis and a countryside farm going back to 6,000 BC were excavated on Mount Muganà. The medieval town rose on the ruins of an ancient Siculian center, probaly called Enghion, celebrated in antiquity for a sanctuary to Meteres. In 878 AD it was conquered by the Saracens, and in 1062 by the Normans, led by COunt Roger, who established his residence in Troina, founded the monastery of San Basilio and the first Norman diocese in Sicily.

After the Second World War, an economic boom came with the building of the Ancipa dam, and more recent time brought new impulse to tourism thanks to the establishment in the early 1950's of the Oasi of Troina by don Luigi Ferlauto, and strongly supported by Pope Pius XII, which concentrated on the assistance and research of neurological syndromes such as epilepsy, Down, Alzheimer. Little by little the scientific importance of the center grew, thanks to the donations of the people of Sicily, and it is now a reference center for the WHO and Unicef. The newest project, don Ferlauto's dream, is to create an open town, with no physical or psychological barriers, where the guests of the Oasi will live before returning to their own places. (Oasi di Troina: +39 0935 936111).

WHAT TO SEE

The parish church, of Norman origin, with a neoclassical facade of the late 18th century, which preserves inside a fine painting representing the Assuption by Giuseppe Velasquez, an enameled pastoral in the Gothic style, a ring donated by Count Roger.

"Knowest thou the land where the lemon trees bloom..." W.Goethe