Cinisi: Coast, memorial sites and church art

Cinisi combines an extensive area of mountains and hills with a fertile plain that reaches the southern Tyrrhenian coast. This offers different possibilities for planning your trip: the sandy coast, the town’s history, and its religious, literary and rural traditions. If you are looking for a hotel in Cinisi, you can plan your stay around whichever of these aspects interests you most.

Coast and historical connections

Spiaggia di Magaggiari stretches for about two kilometres along Cinisi’s sandy coast. Surfing is also associated with the beach. Beach conditions vary by season, so take the time of year into account if Magaggiari is an important part of your trip. Another testament to the coast’s history is the 16th-century watchtower Torre dell’Orsa, which is connected to a historic tuna fishery.

Memorial sites in Cinisi

Casa Memoria Felicia e Peppino Impastato was established in spring 2005 to spread the truth and demand justice in the face of Mafia violence. The memorial route I cento passi uses cobblestones to symbolically trace the hundred steps between Peppino Impastato’s home, now Casa Memoria, and the former Casa Badalamenti. The route thus connects two specific places with the memory of Peppino Impastato.

The former Casa Badalamenti now houses the Biblioteca Comunale di Cinisi “Francesco Paolo Abbate”. Its current use as the municipal library gives the former building a cultural connection to the town. Together with Casa Memoria and the memorial route, it reveals a distinctive aspect of Cinisi: remembrance and community cultural life meet in the history of these named houses.

Churches and art

The Chiesa Madre is dedicated to Santa Fara. Its main altar antependium is made of coral, lapis lazuli and onyx, and dates from the 18th-century Trapani school. The crypts of the Chiesa Madre di Santa Fara also date from the 18th century. They form a necropolis that contained 15,000 human remains. The church therefore encompasses both a work of craftsmanship on the main altar and an important archaeological record.

The Chiesa delle Anime Sante houses two large paintings attributed to the school of Zoppo di Gangi. Another church is the Chiesa del SS. Sacramento: the confraternity of the same name had it built in 1767, and the church has crypts. The three churches offer different starting points for a tour of Cinisi’s religious and artistic heritage: the antependium, paintings and crypts each belong to their own buildings and traditions.

Literature and cultural traditions

Casa di Giovanni Meli bears the name of the Sicilian poet who stayed there for five years. The movable Nativity scene by Giacomo Randazzo is also part of Cinisi’s cultural heritage: it is located in the municipal hall and is listed in the R.E.I. as UNESCO cultural heritage. These two works offer different points of interest—one recalls a poet and his stay, the other a work, its creator and its present location.

Mountain country and rural traditions

Piano Margi can be reached via an old Regia trazzera that runs from Cinisi through the Furi Valley. There, an old, unique livestock watering trough with two basins has been preserved. It belonged to an archaeological military site dating from the First Punic War. The combination of route, valley and built heritage makes Piano Margi a subject in its own right, alongside the coast and the town’s history.

A mannara can be found between Piano Margi and Piano Tavole. Fresh ricotta is made there and can be sampled warm on site; caciocavallo and Sicilian pecorino are also produced. Cinisi’s rural and religious tradition also included a strong devotion to Santo Isidoro, the patron saint of farmers and shepherds. This tradition links religious practice with the occupations for which the saint was regarded as patron.

Discover more destinations

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For the broader travel overview: Palermo.