Sicily · Messina
Forza d'Agrò
A ridge village of 835 peopleabove the Ionian, the Norman fortress town Coppola used in 1972 to stand in for Mafia-era Corleone.
47 km / 29 mi
Nearest hub (Messina)
835
Population
May–Oct
Best time to visit
Recognised as
Why come
Forza d'Agrò sitson a peak above the Ionian coast, ten kilometers north of Taormina. The first record of the settlement, vicum Agrillae, is in a 1117 decree of Roger II; when the village outgrew its lower site the residents moved to the higher rock and renamed the place Fortilicium d'Agrò, the fortress of Agrò. The Norman castle, built between the eleventh and twelfth centuries on the highest peak, is now a ruin but still the silhouette of the town. The Duomo di Maria Santissima Annunziata e Assunta, built in 1400, was damaged by the 1648 and 1693 earthquakes and rebuilt with a Spanish Baroque façade. The fifteenth-century Chiesa della Santissima Trinità is reached by a sandstone staircase under a Gothic-Catalan arch. Francis Ford Coppola filmed the Sicilian sequences of The Godfather here and at neighbouring Savoca in 1972, with the village standing in for Mafia-era Corleone.
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Gallery
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Known for
Castello Normanno
Ruined Norman fortress on the highest peak, built between the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the silhouette that gives the village its name.
Duomo di Maria Santissima Annunziata e Assunta
Mother church built 1400, damaged by the 1648 and 1693 earthquakes, rebuilt with a Spanish Baroque façade and spiral volutes.
Chiesa della Santissima Trinità
Fifteenth-century church reached by a semicircular sandstone staircase under a Gothic-Catalan arch, attached to the convent of Sant'Agostino.
Sicilian Godfather locations
The Largo Annunziata and the staircase of the Trinità appear in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part III (1990), with Forza d'Agrò and Savoca standing in for Corleone.
Belvedere sul Mare
Cliffside lookout over the Ionian coast, ten kilometers north of Taormina, with sight lines to Calabria across the strait.
When to visit
Best months · May–Oct
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
May through October is the season the ridge village works best. The Ionian below stays usable, the air at 420 meters is several degrees cooler than Taormina, and the lanes fill on the days when tour buses come up from the coast to film the Godfather staircase. July and August are crowded with day-trippers and warm but rarely hostile, the sea breeze cuts through the village from late afternoon. November through April is quiet; many trattorie close and the eight hundred and thirty-five residents get the lanes back. The festa for the Madonna Annunziata falls on 25 March with a procession from the Duomo through the historic centre.
How to get there
From Messina, Forza d'Agrò is roughly 47 km by road. Allow about 40–56 minutes depending on traffic and route choice (autostrada vs scenic).
Drive time to the nearest gateway airports
- Sicily1h 28m
- Lamezia / Reggio3h 17m
- Naples / Salerno7h 14m
Elevation 420 m
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