Borgo dei Borghi
Borgo dei Borghi in Sicily
5 towns
Sicily carries 5 of the Borgo dei Borghi towns we cover. They are in the Agrigento, Palermo, and Messina provinces.
The three most recognized in our catalogue are Sambuca di Sicilia, Montalbano Elicona, and Petralia Soprana. 2 more towns carry the mark alongside them.
The towns
Sambuca di Sicilia
Province: Agrigento · 350 m
An Arab-founded hill town in the Belice valley, still called Zabut in living memory before 1923.
Montalbano Elicona
Province: Messina · 907 m
A Nebrodi castle town at 907 meters, Frederick III of Aragon's summer residence and gateway to the Argimusco megalithic plateau.
Petralia Soprana
Province: Palermo · 1,147 m
The highest village in the Madonie at 1,147 meters, RAI Borgo dei Borghi 2018 winner, sitting above 80 kilometers of salt tunnels.
Gangi
Province: Palermo · 1,011 m
A Madonie hill town stacked in concentric rings at 1,011 meters, RAI's Borgo dei Borghi 2014 and one of the first Sicilian towns to offer one-euro houses.
Realmonte
Province: Agrigento · 153 m
The Agrigento coast commune with the white marl cliff of the Scala dei Turchi and a salt mine carved into 5-million-year-old halite.
From elsewhere in Italy
Five more towns
Capranica
Province: Viterbo
A medieval hill town on the old Via Cassia, taken by the Anguillara family in 1305 and remembered as the place Petrarch stayed in 1337.
Riace
Province: Reggio Calabria
A 300-meter borgo on the Locride hills, famous for the 1972 bronzes pulled from its sea and the refugee resettlement project that doubled its population.
Rocca Pietore
Province: Belluno
An Agordino borgo at 1,143 meters under the Marmolada, where the Pettorina cuts a two-kilometer gorge through 100-meter rock walls.
Madesimo
Province: Sondrio
A ski village at 1,550 meters at the head of Valle Spluga, with lifts to 2,880 meters and the Canalone, an off-piste descent counted among the most demanding in the Alps.
Melfi
Province: Potenza
At 530 meters on volcanic slopes, first Norman capital of the south and seat of a landmark 1231 legal code issued from its castle.