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00 Sortino
Stemma di Sortino

Sicily · Siracusa

Sortino

The eastern gateway to UNESCO Pantalica in the Iblei, Sicily's city of honey and home of the stuffed Sortino pizzolo.

Best time
Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov
By car
1 h 6 min from Catania
Population
8,234

Known for

  • PANTALICA

    Eastern gateway to the UNESCO necropolis, around 4,000 rock-cut tombs on the limestone plateau between Sortino and Ferla.

  • MIELE IBLEO

    Official Città del Miele with a documented thousand-year beekeeping tradition; thyme and orange-blossom honeys carry a Slow Food presidium.

  • PIZZOLO

    Sortino's stuffed flatbread, 20 cm round with olive oil, oregano, pepper, parmesan and salt; served only here and in a handful of neighboring villages.

  • PROTECTED PRODUCTS

    The commune lies inside the Monti Iblei DOP and Limone di Siracusa IGP production zones.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov

  • J13°
  • F15°
  • M15°
  • A18°
  • M24°
  • J30°
  • J33°
  • A33°
  • S28°
  • O23°
  • N18°
  • D15°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

The festa: Santa Sofia, 10 September

Why come

Sortino sits on the eastern Iblei, the other side of the Pantalica plateau from Ferla, sixteen kilometers from the Anapo gorge that holds the necropolis. The 1693 Val di Noto earthquake destroyed the medieval town on a different site; Peter Gaetani moved the rebuild to the current ridge and gave it the baroque grid still visible in the centro storico. The Necropoli di Pantalica, around four thousand rock-cut chamber tombs from the thirteenth to the seventh centuries BC, sits between the two communes and joined the UNESCO inscription with Syracuse in 2005.

Sortino is the official Sicilian Città del Miele, with a beekeeping tradition documented for a thousand years and a Slow Food presidium for the local thyme and orange-blossom honey. The town's other signature is pizzolo, a 20-centimeter stuffed flatbread topped with olive oil, oregano and parmesan, served only in Sortino and a handful of nearby villages.

The Sunday letter

Sortino 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 every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Sortino comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.

Read on

Sortino in our articles

How to get there

From Catania (CTA), about 1 hour by car.

By car from the centre of Palermo 3h 26m.

Coming by train into Siracusa? Sortino is about 53 minutes away by road.

Every town within reach of Catania airport.

Sortino, photo 1
Sortino, photo 2

What to see

  • Necropoli di Pantalica

    Around 4,000 rock-cut chamber tombs from the thirteenth to seventh centuries BC on the limestone plateau between Sortino and Ferla; UNESCO since 2005.

  • Chiesa Madre (San Giovanni Evangelista)

    Eighteenth-century baroque mother church, rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake on the relocated ridge town under Peter Gaetani.

  • Convento di San Francesco

    Baroque convent complex with a richly decorated interior, part of the post-1693 rebuild commissioned by Peter Gaetani during the relocation of the town.

  • Valle dell'Anapo

    Limestone gorge between Sortino and Ferla with the Anapo river, an abandoned railway converted into walking trail, and access to the Pantalica plateau.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Sortino fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

  • Festa in onore di Santa Sofiapatron saint's feast

    usually held across August and September. TrovaSagre

Living here

  • Population 8,234
  • In-betweeni
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Nearest airport Catania, 1 h 4 min drive
  • Regional capital Palermo, 3 h 26 min drive

Common questions

What is Sortino known for?
Sortino is the eastern gateway to UNESCO Pantalica at 438 meters in the Iblei, Sicily's city of honey and home of the stuffed Sortino pizzolo.
Where is Sortino?
Sortino is a comune in the province of Siracusa, in Sicily.
What is the nearest airport to Sortino?
Catania (CTA), about 1 hour by car.
How long is the drive from Palermo to Sortino?
About 3h 26m by car.
When is the best time to visit Sortino?
Best in Apr–Jun, Sep–Nov. July is the warmest month, averaging 33 degrees, and September the wettest, with about 11 rain days.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Sortino?
Yes. Festa in onore di Santa Sofia. August is when the first of them falls.
Which other towns are like Sortino?
Castelbuono, Salemi and Sambuca di Sicilia.
How many people live in Sortino?
8,234 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 438 m
  • Population: 8,234
  • Surface area: 93.33 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.

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