Sicily · Agrigento
Sambuca di Sicilia
An Arab-founded hill town in the Belice valley, still called Zabut in living memory before 1923.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Sambuca di Sicilia is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia, Borgo dei Borghi and Città del Vino.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov
- By car
- 1 h 21 min from Palermo
- Population
- 5,253
- J13°
- F14°
- M15°
- A18°
- M23°
- J29°
- J33°
- A32°
- S27°
- O23°
- N18°
- D14°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
The town sits on a hill above the Belice valley, seventy-eight kilometers south of Palermo, overlooking the Sicani hills and the reservoir below. Frederick II took the town, then still called Zabut, in the thirteenth century after two years of resistance; the Arab name returned officially as Sambuca Zabut in 1864 and was dropped in 1923. The upper town holds the old Arab core, its stone houses and courtyards laid along the alleys founded by the emir, while the lower ground toward the reservoir carries the fortress that once took his name and now stands part underwater, and the vineyards that supply the Menfi DOC.
Earthquake damage in 1968 reached the upper town and required rebuilding the mother church on the central piazza. The name, the water, and the stone all trace back to the same ninth-century founding: a town that took an Arab ruler's name, kept it for over a thousand years, and only shed it in the twentieth century, while the fortress he built still marks the water's edge below.
How to get there
From Catania (CTA), about 3 h 50 min by car.
By car from the center of Palermo 1 h 21 min.
Coming from Palermo?
Coming by train into Palermo Centrale? Sambuca di Sicilia is about 1 h 20 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Li Setti Vaneddi
Narrow stone lanes opening into inner courtyards at the core of the Arab quarter, the seven Saracen alleys around which the old town grew.
Castello di Mazzallakkar
Square fortress with four corner towers, standing half-submerged at the southern edge of Lake Arancio since the reservoir was filled.
Lago Arancio
Reservoir fed by the Carboj river, formed in 1952 and used today for sport fishing and irrigation of the surrounding vineyards.
Chiesa della Concezione
One of the old-town churches of Sambuca, separate from the Chiesa Madre, in a town that came through the 1968 Belice earthquake with moderate damage.
Monte Adranone
Greek-Punic hilltop city on a summit of about 900 meters north of town, with a necropolis, the Tomba della Regina and fortress walls, well outside the Arab core that defines the center.
Living here
Could you live here?
Sambuca di Sicilia meets 1 of our 2 rules for a small town.
- 5,253 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Mazara del Vallo, a city of 50,011, is 1 h 4 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 5,253, down 11.7% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Mazara del Vallo, 1 h 4 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Sciacca, 13 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €380 to €570 per m² to buy, €1.40 to €2.10 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 96% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Palermo airport (PMO), 1 h 31 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Palermo, 1 h 21 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
4% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, China and Ukraine, against 9% across Italy. 13 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United States. There are 246 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 57% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Agrigento province ranks 95th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Sciacca, 13 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Palermo, 56 km away. The nearest IB school is Gonzaga International School Palermo, 57 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% 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. The town adds 0.75% to your income tax. 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 C, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 15 to March 31, up to 10 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. The national maps show no residents in a high or medium flood zone. 3% 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
BORGO DEI BORGHI 2016
Won the RAI competition in 2016; in 2019 the town began selling empty houses for one euro, a scheme that drew buyers from around the world.
SETTI VANEDDI
The seven Saracen alleys at the heart of the Arab quarter, founded around 830 and kept today as a living museum of Arab-Sicilian history.
MENFI DOC WINES
Nero d'Avola and Catarratto grown on the slopes above Lake Arancio, vinified by Cantine Settesoli and the smaller Planeta and Di Giovanna estates.
DOP ZONES
The commune lies inside the Val di Mazara and Vastedda della valle del Belìce DOP production zones.
Common questions
- What is Sambuca di Sicilia known for?
- Sambuca di Sicilia is an Arab-founded hill town in the Belice valley, still called Zabut in living memory before 1923.
- Where is Sambuca di Sicilia?
- Sambuca di Sicilia is a comune in the province of Agrigento, in Sicily, at 350 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Sambuca di Sicilia?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Palermo (PMO), about 1 h 31 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Palermo to Sambuca di Sicilia?
- About 1 h 21 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Sambuca di Sicilia?
- Best in Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov. July is the warmest month, averaging 33 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 14 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Sambuca di Sicilia?
- Castelbuono, Sortino and Salemi.
- How many people live in Sambuca di Sicilia?
- 5,253 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Sambuca di Sicilia a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Sambuca di Sicilia is a small town that meets 1 of our 2 rules. The nearest city, Mazara del Vallo, is 1 h 4 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Sciacca, 13 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 96% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 350 m
- Population: 5,253
- Surface area: 96.37 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 Sambuca di Sicilia appears in
- The best wine towns in SicilySicilywine6 towns · smallest 1,516 residents
- The prettiest villages inside a nature park in SicilySicilyinside a parkprettiest villages7 towns · smallest 1,664 residents
- The best hill towns within 90 minutes of PalermoNear Palermohill townwithin 90 min8 towns · smallest 986 residents · closest 13 min away
Similar
Towns like Sambuca di Sicilia
What all six share with Sambuca di Sicilia: between 3,000 and 10,000 people
Castelbuono
Province: Palermo
both inland in Sicily · both hill towns
Sortino
Province: Siracusa
both inland in Sicily · both hill towns
Salemi
Province: Trapani
both inland in Sicily · both hill towns
Cammarata
Province: Agrigento
both inland in Sicily
Casoli
Province: Chieti
both hill towns
Guglionesi
Province: Campobasso
both hill towns
The letter
Sambuca di Sicilia is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Sambuca di Sicilia comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Cerveteri, 491 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.