Sicily · Palermo
Petralia Soprana
The highest village in the Madonie at 1,147 meters, RAI Borgo dei Borghi 2018 winner, sitting above 80 kilometers of salt tunnels.
Known for
BORGO DEI BORGHI 2018
RAI Borgo dei Borghi winner in 2018, the year the salt mine MACSS opened more broadly to visitors.
MINIERA DI RAFFO
Active salt mine below the village, 80 km of tunnels through one of Europe's largest salt deposits, worked since the fourteenth century.
TETTO DELLE MADONIE
Highest commune in the Madonie range at 1,147 meters, surrounded by the Madonie Natural Park and its 30% of Sicilian biodiversity.
When to visit
Best · Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
The festa: festa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo, 29 June
Why come
Petralia Soprana sits at 1,147 meters at the heart of the Madonie Natural Park, the highest commune in the range. The town and its lower twin Petralia Sottana grew from the Roman Petra, then took its current form under the Normans, who fortified the ridge. The Chiesa Madre, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, dates to the fifteenth century and faces Piazza Duomo with a clear view across the Madonie.
Below the village, the Raffo salt mine runs 80 kilometers of tunnels through one of the largest salt deposits in Europe, mined since at least the fourteenth century; the active mine now hosts MACSS, a contemporary art museum carved into the salt, one of a kind worldwide. RAI named Petralia Soprana Borgo dei Borghi in 2018, the year of the salt mine's wider opening to the public. The stone streets, the mountain air at 1,147 meters, and the salt below the floor are the three things the village trades on.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Petralia Soprana’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
Chiesa Madre (Santi Pietro e Paolo)
Fifteenth-century mother church on Piazza Duomo, central monument of the village, with a baroque interior added after the 1693 earthquake.
Miniera di Sale di Raffo
Active salt mine below the village with 80 km of tunnels in one of Europe's largest salt deposits, worked since the fourteenth century.
MACSS — Museo Arte Contemporanea Sotto Sale
Contemporary art museum inside the active Raffo salt mine, sculptures cut directly into rock salt walls, the only museum of its kind worldwide.
Belvedere
Eastern terrace with views across the Madonie ridge to the Nebrodi, Etna visible on clear days; the postcard the Borgo dei Borghi jury photographed.
Centro storico medievale
Stone village laid out along the Norman ridge, narrow lanes paved in local sandstone, baroque palazzi from the seventeenth century along Via Loreto.
The slow-trip planner
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Living here
- Population 2,968
- Off the beaten pathi
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Nearest airport Sicily, 1 h 52 min drive
- Regional capital Palermo, 1 h 28 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
The numbers
- Elevation: 1147 m
- Population: 2,968
- Surface area: 56.1 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 Petralia Soprana
Geraci Siculo
Province: Palermo
A Madonie ridge village at 1,077 meters, capital of the Ventimiglia marquisate from 1258 and the first marquisate granted in Sicily.
Gangi
Province: Palermo
A Madonie hill town stacked down Monte Marone at 1,011 meters, RAI's Borgo dei Borghi 2014 and the launching pad for the one-euro-house programme.
Castelbuono
Province: Palermo
A Madonie town at 423 meters around the Ventimiglia castle, where manna is still tapped from ash trees and Fiasconaro bakes the panettone.
Polizzi Generosa
Province: Palermo
A Madonie town at 917 meters inside a UNESCO Global Geopark, hazelnut country and the birthplace of Domenico Dolce.
Nicosia
Province: Enna
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.
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