Sicily · Enna
Nicosia
A Byzantine-Norman royal city at 720 meters on four hills, one of Sicily's principal Gallo-Italic centres where the Lombard dialect nkoukkà still survives.
Known for
GALLO-ITALIC
Nkoukkà, the Gallo-Italic dialect of Piedmontese and Ligurian origin brought by Norman-era Lombard settlers, still spoken in the old town.
ROYAL CITY
Made a city of the royal demesne by William II of Sicily, the only royal city of inland eastern Sicily for centuries.
CATTEDRALE
Cattedrale di San Nicolò, fourteenth-century Gothic foundation with wooden ceiling, raised to collegiate status by Leo X in 1521.
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
The festa: Nicola di Bari, 6 December
Why come
Nicosia sits at 720 meters in the Erei mountains of inland Sicily, on four rocky hills crowned by a Norman castle. The modern town was founded by Byzantine colonists in the sixth century and expanded under Arab and then Norman rule. When the Normans took the city in 1064, Roger I repopulated it with settlers from Piedmont and Liguria, the Lombardi, whose Gallo-Italic dialect still lives in town as nkoukkà.
King William II made Nicosia a royal city. The Cattedrale di San Nicolò, dedicated to Nicholas of Bari, was begun in the early 1300s under Frederick II of Aragon and completed by 1340, in Gothic style with a fourteenth-century wooden ceiling and a bell tower listed as a national monument since 1940. Pope Leo X raised the church to collegiate status in 1521. The Castello Normanno still stands in ruins above the town, anchoring the highest of the four hills.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Nicosia’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
Cattedrale di San Nicolò
Gothic cathedral begun under Frederick II of Aragon and completed by 1340, with a fourteenth-century wooden ceiling and a national-monument bell tower.
Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore
Second great church of the town, on one of the four hills, with a marble polyptych by Antonello Gagini.
Castello Normanno
Ruined Norman fortress on the highest of the four hills, built during the eleventh-century conquest of the city.
Centro storico medievale
Old town spread across four hills, with palaces, churches and stone houses on steep alleys; the Lombard quarter still preserves the nkoukkà dialect.
The slow-trip planner
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Living here
- Population 12,686
- Very remotei
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest airport Sicily, 1 h 50 min drive
- Regional capital Palermo, 2 h 9 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 720 m
- Population: 12,686
- Surface area: 218.51 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.
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