Sicily · Messina
Montalbano Elicona
A Nebrodi castle town at 907 meters, Frederick III of Aragon's summer residence and gateway to the Argimusco megalithic plateau.
Known for
BORGO DEI BORGHI 2015
Won the RAI Borgo dei Borghi competition in 2015, which brought the castle and the Argimusco plateau into wider circulation.
ARGIMUSCO
Plateau of large eroded sandstone formations twelve kilometers from the village, called the Sicilian Stonehenge in the local press.
FREDERICK'S CASTLE
Frederick III of Aragon's summer residence between 1302 and 1308, where the king brought physician Arnaldo da Villanova to treat his gout.
When to visit
Best · May–Oct
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Why come
Montalbano Elicona stands at 907 meters in the Nebrodi mountains, north of Etna and inland from the Tyrrhenian coast above Patti. The Castello di Montalbano was raised in 1233 under Frederick II of Swabia, then rebuilt and adopted as a summer royal residence by Frederick III of Aragon between 1302 and 1308, who brought his physician Arnaldo da Villanova with him to treat his gout. The castle still combines a Norman rectangular nucleus with crenellated towers and an Aragonese addition with arrow slits and large windows.
The town won the RAI Borgo dei Borghi competition in 2015. A short drive from the village, the Argimusco plateau holds a set of large eroded sandstone formations that some scholars read as a fourteenth-to-eighteenth-century hermetic site and others as wind-and-water sculpture. The surrounding hills are Città della Nocciola territory; hazelnut groves run from 700 to 1,000 meters.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Montalbano Elicona’s letter yet.
One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.
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What to see
Castello di Montalbano
Frederick II castle of 1233 rebuilt as the summer residence of Frederick III of Aragon between 1302 and 1308, two towers and a Norman-Aragonese hybrid plan.
Megaliti dell'Argimusco
Eroded sandstone plateau twelve kilometers from the village, large free-standing formations read variously as natural sculpture and a medieval hermetic site.
Chiesa Madre di Santa Maria Assunta
Norman-era mother church near the castle, fourteenth-century reworking and a Renaissance baptismal font, restored after twentieth-century seismic damage.
Borgo medievale e Quartiere dei Saraceni
Concentric medieval ring of stone houses below the castle, including the Quartiere dei Saraceni, narrow lanes that wrap around the rock outcrop.
Bosco di Malabotta
Beech and oak reserve adjoining the Argimusco plateau, part of the Nebrodi park and a route for the summer hazelnut and chestnut harvests.
The slow-trip planner
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Living here
- Population 2,038
- Off the beaten pathi
- Pharmacy in town
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Nearest airport Sicily, 1 h 51 min drive
- Regional capital Palermo, 2 h 35 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
The numbers
- Elevation: 907 m
- Population: 2,038
- Surface area: 67.8 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Close by
More towns near Montalbano Elicona
Randazzo
Province: Catania
A medieval town in black lava stone at 750 meters on Etna's north foot, with three quarter churches for Latins, Greeks and Lombards.
Novara di Sicilia
Province: Messina
A stone village at 650 meters where the Peloritani meet the Nebrodi, with a UNESCO-listed cheese race tumbling down the main street at Carnival.
Castiglione di Sicilia
Province: Catania
A hill town on the north flank of Etna at 621 meters, base camp for the Alcantara valley and the volcano's most serious red wines.
Castroreale
Province: Messina
A ridge town at 394 meters above the Milazzo plain, rebuilt by Frederick II of Aragon in 1324 as a royal demesne and second in the 2018 Borgo dei Borghi.
Taormina
Province: Messina
A 204-meter terrace above the Ionian with Etna on the southern horizon, a Greek-Roman theatre carved into the rock since the third century BC.
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