Giarratana: feasts and traditions

Giarratana is a small town of just under 3,000 people in the province of Ragusa, set at about 520 metres on the slopes of Monte Lauro, in the heart of the Hyblaean Mountains (Monti Iblei). People lived here long before the town existed: the oldest traces date back to the 2nd millennium BC, and nearby Monte Casale was the site of Casmene, an outpost of Greek Syracuse. The first written records of Giarratana date from the Norman period; in 1454 the barony passed to the Settimo family, and in 1559 it was raised to a marquisate.

The earthquake of 1693 flattened the medieval town, now the Terravecchia archaeological site a little to the north. The new Giarratana was officially founded on 26 August that same year and rebuilt on a hill further south; from 1703 the Settimo family built a castle there, of which only ruins remain. In the town you'll find the churches of San Bartolomeo, the Basilica of Sant'Antonio and the Chiesa Madre, while the surrounding countryside holds the remains of Roman villas and, in the Calaforno forest park, a prehistoric underground complex with 35 chambers.

Farming still drives the local economy: wheat, olive oil, pulses and almonds, which go into the white nougat (torrone) made with local honey. The town's signature product is the Giarratana onion, large, flat and sweet, celebrated every August with a festival held since 1981. The patron saint is Saint Bartholomew, honoured in August, and at Christmas the town stages a living nativity; in December, Piazza Vittorio Veneto also hosts the porchetta festival.