Brucoli Lighthouse

Brucoli is a small tourist-fishing village in the province of Siracusa, a few minutes' drive from Catania. With a canal that runs alongside it for much of its length, Brucoli was born as a fishing village but thanks to its strategic position was joined in the 15th century to the Chamber of the Aragonese Queens. It is dominated by the Aragonese Castle, the construction of which was ordered by Queen Giovanna in 1467. The Lighthouse of Brucoli, built in 1912, electrified and modernised in the years that followed, rises precisely on the tip of Brucoli in a unique location. It is accessible from piazza Castello, travelling an area adjacent to the Aragonese Castle commissioned by King Giovanni II of Aragona and in front of the superb Etna Volcano. In 1956, the breathtaking panorama that stood in front of the Lighthouse in the past was narrated by the writer Giuseppe Tomasi of Lampedusa in his story “La sirena” also known with the name of “Lighea”. Several scenes from the famous TV series Commissario Montalbano have also been filmed along the port canal that flows alongside the Lighthouse. Many caves are still visible, along its two walls. They are characteristic dwellings of the Neolithic period. A vast area, the “Gisira”, a large limestone table sloping down to the sea, opens out to the west of the canal, where the traces of a Neolithic village have been found to the extreme North. Brucoli is also home to the single nave 19th century parish church, built several times and dedicated to St. Nicholas, the protector of sailors and patron of the village. According to a local tradition, the sailors of a ship invoked the Saint’s help during a storm and found shelter in the canal of Brucoli. As a token of gratitude, they brought into the church under construction the painting depicting Saint Nicholas enthroned; today it has become the high altarpiece. Today, the port-canal, foce del Porcària, can be navigated for a hundred metres from the source by small boats. Moving a few dozen feet into the canal, it is still possible to see the bridge over the river, used by the old women of the town to wash clothes. Each culture has left an inheritance of flavours, which have created a typical Mediterranean cuisine among the best in Italy and, in addition to one of the most renowned agro-food supply chains, it also boasts a wine tradition of ancient origins.
The area where Brucoli rises, which can reasonably be regarded as a sort of metaphor of the path of man, possesses a series of archaeological centres that are already recipients of a significant flow of tourists. The rocky necropolis of Pantalica and Palazzolo and the caves of the Brucoli canal are among the most important proto-historical sites in Sicily in which the traces of Neolithic settlements are very useful to understand the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age on the island. The Archaeological Park of Siracusa gathers almost all the monumental Greek-Roman testimonies in a single location and strolling inside it, it is undoubtedly a unique experience for the presence of the latomies of Paradise, of the Intagliatella and St. Venera, where deep artificial caves and colourful rocky crags alternate with lush gardens and tall trees. Particularly important and interesting is also the Greek theatre built in the 5th century B.C. and then transformed in Roman times, protagonist to this day of great shows and performances of famous authors of antiquity.