Sicily · Enna
Nicosia
A Byzantine-Norman royal city at 720 meters on four hills, one of Sicily's principal Gallo-Italic centers, where the dialect of its Lombard settlers is still spoken.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Visiting
- Best time
- May–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 32 min from Catania
- Population
- 12,511
- J11°
- F13°
- M13°
- A17°
- M22°
- J29°
- J33°
- A32°
- S27°
- O22°
- N17°
- D13°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
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 is still spoken in town.
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 in use by 1340, in Gothic style with a painted fifteenth-century wooden roof and a Gothic bell tower, and has been 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.
How to get there
From Catania (CTA), about 1 h 34 min by car.
By car from the center of Palermo 2 h 9 min.
Coming from Palermo?
Every town within reach of Catania airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Cattedrale di San Nicolò
Gothic cathedral begun under Frederick II of Aragon and in use by 1340, a national monument with a painted fifteenth-century wooden roof and a three-tier Gothic 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 upper Lombard quarter grew around Santa Maria Maggiore.
From the guides
Where to eat
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Al PilèrRistorante
Al Pilèr holds two Gambero Rosso forks (80/100) and a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.
Living here
Could you live here?
Nicosia meets 1 of our 2 rules for a small town.
- 12,511 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Enna, a city of 25,102, is 1 h 15 min by car. Further than our 30 to 60 minutes, a long way for the hospital visit or the monthly shopping.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 12,511, down 10.9% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Enna, 1 h 15 min drive
- A national health service hospital in the comune · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €780 to €1,150 per m² to buy, €2.90 to €4.30 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Very remote
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 91% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Catania airport (CTA), 1 h 34 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Palermo, 2 h 9 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
2% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Argentina and Egypt, against 9% across Italy. There are 260 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 43% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Enna province ranks 87th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
There is an emergency room in the comune. The nearest major one is in Caltanissetta, 46 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Caltanissetta, 46 km away. The nearest IB school is Gonzaga International School Palermo, 101 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 0.89% a year in property tax at the 2025 rate, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. 7% pensioner tax: this town qualifies, for someone with a foreign pension who has lived abroad for five years: 7% on foreign income, for ten years.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Sicily spends about €1,820 a month, €580 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €524 a year for water, on the Sicily average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone D, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 1 to April 15, up to 12 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. The national maps show no residents in a high or medium flood zone. 4% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
GALLO-ITALIC
The Gallo-Italic dialect of Piedmontese and Ligurian origin, brought by Norman-era Lombard settlers and still spoken in the old town.
ROYAL CITY
Made a city of the royal demesne by William II of Sicily, and in the Middle Ages ranked fourth among Sicily's royal cities after Palermo, Messina and Catania.
CATTEDRALE
Cattedrale di San Nicolò, fourteenth-century Gothic foundation with wooden ceiling, raised to collegiate status by Leo X in 1521.
PAGNOTTA DEL DITTAINO
The commune lies inside the Pagnotta del Dittaino DOP production zone.
Common questions
- What is Nicosia known for?
- Nicosia is a Byzantine-Norman royal city at 720 meters on four hills, one of Sicily's principal Gallo-Italic centers, where the dialect of its Lombard settlers is still spoken.
- Where is Nicosia?
- Nicosia is a comune in the province of Enna, in Sicily.
- What is the nearest airport to Nicosia?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Catania (CTA), about 1 h 34 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Palermo to Nicosia?
- About 2 h 9 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Nicosia?
- Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 33 degrees, and March the wettest, with about 11 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Nicosia?
- Randazzo, Monte Sant'Angelo and Brunico.
- How many people live in Nicosia?
- 12,511 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Nicosia a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Nicosia is a small town that meets 1 of our 2 rules. The nearest city, Enna, is 1 h 15 min away by car. There is a national health service hospital in the comune. Full fibre reaches 91% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 720 m
- Population: 12,511
- Surface area: 218.51 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Nicosia appears in
- The best mountain towns within two hours of CataniaNear Cataniamountainwithin 2 hours10 towns · smallest 1,705 residents · closest 29 min away
- The safest places to live in Italy: 10 small towns in the lowest-crime provincesCalabrialowest-crime provinces5,000 to 20,000 people10 towns · smallest 6,302 residents
Similar
Towns like Nicosia
What all six share with Nicosia: mountain-valley towns · high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
Randazzo
Province: Catania
both over 10,000 people
Monte Sant'Angelo
Province: Foggia
both over 10,000 people
Brunico
Province: Bolzano
both over 10,000 people
Ariano Irpino
Province: Avellino
both over 10,000 people
L'Aquila
Province: L'Aquila
both over 10,000 people
Castiglione di Sicilia
Province: Catania
1 h 52 min apart by road
The letter
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