Ferla

Ferla is a small town in the Val di Noto rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake that razed most of eastern Sicily to the ground. It is so that this part of the island, rebuilt in the exuberant forms of Baroque, has become an atlas of architecture of such value as to deserve the title of UNESCO World Heritage Site. The subsoil and the caves of Ferla are also rich of testimonies of the civilizations that have inhabited it during the centuries – Byzantines, Longobards, Normans and maybe Arabs. From the intricate system of cave-dwellings, alleys and small streets was born the Norman village, then destroyed by the earthquake. The eighteenth-century cross-shaped urban layout that has remained until today is dotted with churches, arranged along the path of the “via sacra” in an uninterrupted Baroque setting, in turn surrounded by the panorama of olive trees, carob trees, almond trees, vineyards and dry stone walls of the Iblean countryside. The cultural and environmental heritage of the village has received due recognition with its inclusion among “the most beautiful villages in Italy”.