What is Mezzojuso known for?

Settled in 1448 by Albanian soldiers under Demetrio Reres, one of the Sicilian Arbëreshë communes still celebrating the Byzantine Greek rite. Two sixteenth-century mother churches, the Latin-rite Annunziata and the Greek-rite San Nicolò di Mira, both still parish churches. Chestnut woods on the Rocca Busambra slope, harvested in October and recognised by the Città del Castagno network.

Mezzojuso is a comune in the province of Palermo, Sicily region of Italy, about 43 kilometers from Palermo.

Sicily · Palermo

Mezzojuso

An Arbëreshë village on the slope of Rocca Busambra, two mother churches (one Latin, one Byzantine), and an Arabic name meaning the houses of Joseph.

534m

Elevation

43 km / 27 mi

Nearest hub (Palermo)

2,617

Population

Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Città del Castagno

Why come

Mezzojuso sits at 534 meters on the lower slope of Rocca Busambra, forty-five kilometers southeast of Palermo. The Arabic Manzil Yusuf, the houses of Joseph, names a tenth-century Saracen hamlet that passed into Norman hands in 1091. In 1448 King Alfonso of Aragon granted the depopulated village to Demetrio Reres, the Albanian commander who led three battalions of Arbëreshë soldiers across the Adriatic; in 1501 their community formalised the rebuilding of the church and the use of the Byzantine Greek rite. Today Mezzojuso is one of the Sicilian Arbëreshë communes, alongside Piana degli Albanesi and Palazzo Adriano: the language is mostly gone but the Greek rite holds. The town has two mother churches, both sixteenth-century: the Latin-rite Chiesa Maria Santissima Annunziata and the Greek-rite Chiesa di San Nicolò di Mira, with an iconostasis of sixteenth-century icons described as the most valuable in Sicily and frescoes by Olivio Sozzi from 1752. The Basilian monastery of San Basilio, restored in the 1920s, keeps a library of Greek codices and sixteenth-century editions.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Mezzojuso fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Gallery

6 photos · scroll →

Known for

Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie
Sixteenth-century Greek-rite church with frescoes by Olivio Sozzi from 1752 and an iconostasis of sixteenth-century icons among the most valuable in Sicily.
Chiesa Maria Santissima Annunziata
Sixteenth-century Latin-rite mother church on the main piazza, the parallel parish to the Greek-rite San Nicolò di Mira.
Chiesa di San Nicolò di Mira
Greek-rite mother church of the Arbëreshë community, with Byzantine liturgy still celebrated by priests of the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi.
Monastero basiliano di San Basilio
Greek-rite monastery founded in 1609 by Demetrio Reres, restored in 1920 by the Basilian monk Nilo Borgia, with a library of Greek codices.
Rocca Busambra
Limestone massif rising to 1,613 meters behind the village, the highest peak in the Bosco della Ficuzza.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September through November are the working months on the Rocca Busambra slope. May runs the Festa del Crocifisso, with the Byzantine and Latin parishes processing on different days through the same streets. The chestnut harvest is October. July and August can push past thirty-five degrees in the inland Palermo basin and the village empties between two and five in the afternoon. Winter is quiet but mild. The Greek-rite Easter, scheduled separately from the Latin calendar, draws visitors from Piana degli Albanesi and Palazzo Adriano to the Annunziata and San Nicolò liturgies.