Cinisi – Coast, Places of Remembrance and Sicilian Culture

Cinisi combines an extensive mountain and hill landscape with a fertile plain that reaches the southern Tyrrhenian coast. As a result, different impressions come together here: the approximately 2-kilometre-long sandy coast of Spiaggia di Magaggiari, religious art and historic sites in the settlement area, as well as rural traces between the hills.

Coast and landscape between Magaggiari and Piano Margi

Spiaggia di Magaggiari stretches for approximately 2 kilometres along the sandy coast of Cinisi. Surfing is mentioned there as a local activity. Anyone wishing to combine the coastal area with an active focus when planning their trip will find a clearly recognisable thematic emphasis here, without needing to assume any additional characteristics of the beaches.

A different landscape impression awaits you at Piano Margi. The place can be reached via an old Regia trazzera that leads from Cinisi through the Furi Valley. An old, unique livestock watering trough with two basins has been preserved there. It belonged to an archaeological military site from the time of the First Punic War. Between Piano Margi and Piano Tavole, you can also come across a mannara. Fresh ricotta is produced there and can be sampled warm on site; Caciocavallo and Sicilian Pecorino are also made there.

Remembrance culture with specific sites

Casa Memoria Felicia e Peppino Impastato was established in spring 2005 with the aim of spreading the truth and demanding justice against Mafia violence. The I cento passi memorial route uses stumbling stones to symbolically trace the hundred steps between Peppino Impastato's house, now Casa Memoria, and the former Casa Badalamenti. The former Casa Badalamenti houses the Biblioteca Comunale di Cinisi “Francesco Paolo Abbate”.

These sites give a stay in Cinisi a historical and social dimension that differs from a purely coastal trip. Tonnara dell'Orsa also belongs in this context: it includes a watchtower from the 16th century; the complex is connected with a historic tuna fishery.

Churches, art and local traditions

The Chiesa Madre, dedicated to Santa Fara, has a main-altar antependium made of coral, lapis lazuli and onyx from the Trapani school of the 18th century. Its 18th-century crypts form a necropolis that contained 15,000 human remains. Visits to the crypts can be organised on request through the InfoPoint at Palazzo dei Benedettini.

The Chiesa delle Anime Sante preserves two large paintings attributed to the school of Zoppo di Gangi. The Chiesa del SS. Sacramento was built in 1767 by the Brotherhood of the same name and has crypts. Cinisi's rural religious tradition also included a particularly strong veneration of Santo Isidoro, the patron saint of farmers and shepherds.

Another cultural trace leads to Casa di Giovanni Meli. The Sicilian poet Giovanni Meli stayed for five years in the house named after him. Giacomo Randazzo's movable nativity scene is located in the municipal hall of Cinisi and is registered in the R.E.I. as UNESCO cultural heritage.

Other destinations at the same level

If you would like to continue your research beyond Cinisi, the following destinations are available: Trappeto, Pioppo, Collesano, Paterna, Santa Flavia, Finale, Altofonte and Gibilmanna.

To the higher-level travel overview: Palermo.