Sicily · Agrigento
Sambuca di Sicilia
An Arab-founded hill town in the Belice valley, named Borgo dei Borghi in 2016, still called Zabut in living memory before 1923.
Known for
BORGO DEI BORGHI 2016
Won the RAI competition in 2016, which drew international press and a wave of one-euro house buyers to the Arab quarter.
SETTI VANEDDI
The seven Saracen alleys laid out by Emir Al-Zabut in 827, the oldest intact Arab street grid surviving in Sicily.
MENFI DOC WINES
Nero d'Avola and Cataratto grown on the slopes above Lake Arancio, vinified by Cantine Settesoli and the smaller Planeta and Di Giovanna estates.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Why come
Sambuca di Sicilia sits on a hill above the Belice valley, sixty-eight kilometers southwest of Palermo, overlooking the artificial Lake Arancio and the Sicani hills behind it. The Emir Al-Zabut founded the town in 827, soon after the Arab landing in Sicily, and named the castle after himself. The Arab quarter that survives runs through li setti vaneddi, the seven Saracen alleys, a tight grid of stone houses and inner courtyards still recognizable in the centro storico.
Frederick II conquered Zabut in the thirteenth century. The town carried its Arab name as Sambuca Zabut until 1923, when the suffix was officially dropped. In 2016 it won RAI's Borgo dei Borghi competition, which brought a wave of one-euro house buyers from abroad. The territory produces Nero d'Avola and Cataratto under the Menfi DOC, and the Mazzallakkar fortress stands half-submerged at the edge of the lake.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Sambuca di Sicilia’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
Li Setti Vaneddi
Seven Saracen alleys at the core of the Arab quarter, narrow stone lanes opening into inner courtyards, the original ninth-century street grid.
Castello di Mazzallakkar
Square Arab fortress with four corner towers, half-submerged at the southern edge of Lake Arancio after the reservoir was filled in 1952.
Lago Arancio
Reservoir below the town fed by the Carboj river, formed in 1952 and used today for sport fishing and irrigation of the surrounding vineyards.
Chiesa della Concezione
Eighteenth-century mother church on the central piazza, restored after the 1968 Belice earthquake that damaged much of the upper town.
Monte Adranone
Greek and Sicanian archaeological site eight kilometers from town at 1,000 meters, with the remains of a sixth-century BC necropolis and city walls.
The slow-trip planner
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Living here
- Population 5,341
- Off the beaten pathi
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest airport Sicily, 3 h 50 min drive
- Regional capital Palermo, 1 h 21 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 350 m
- Population: 5,341
- Surface area: 96.37 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 Sambuca di Sicilia
Menfi
Province: Agrigento
Sicily's triple-signal western coast town — 11,800 residents on a low ridge above 9 km of Bandiera Blu sand at Porto Palo, with the Federico II tower, the Cantine Settesoli cooperative (Italy's largest by volume, 2,000 grower-members), and the rare Bandiera Blu + Città del Vino + Città dell'Olio combination.
Sciacca
Province: Agrigento
A terraced fishing harbor on Sicily's southwestern coast, Selinunte's thermal spa in the fifth century BC and a ceramics city since the fourteenth.
Castelvetrano
Province: Trapani
The Belice valley town that owns Selinunte, the largest archaeological park in Europe, and bakes black bread from grain found in its tombs.
Corleone
Province: Palermo
A town of 10,364 in the Palermo hinterland that gave its name to Mario Puzo's Don Vito and now runs Italy's national antimafia documentation centre.
Monreale
Province: Palermo
Above the Conca d'Oro at 310 meters, the cathedral William II built between 1174 and 1182 holds 6,340 square meters of Norman mosaics.
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