What to see
Points of interest:
Byzantine Village
It is a rock settlement from the late Roman-Byzantine period.
In 535, the occupation of Sicily by Byzantines began, and this changed the traditions and habits of the local population. The Byzantine conquerors brought their formal and iconographic heritage of primitive Christianity to the island. During the Byzantine rule, the population of Calascibetta lived in small villages in the countryside not far from the present town. Following the Arab conquest, the populations of the countryside gradually moved to the highest part of Calascibetta, where we find the first Arab core characterised by narrow, winding streets, such as Balata Street and S. Agata Street, and occupying the primitive dwellings once inhabited by troglodyte populations.
Necropolis of Realmese
This is the second Pantalican necropolis in Sicily, characterised by 288 cave tombs.
Its use covers a very vast period that can be divided into two main phases: the first of the protohistoric age, (from the 9th to the 7th century BC); the second of the archaic age (from the 7th to the 6th century BC).
Even today, a section of the ancient paving paved with 'cutu' stone" paving slabs, and a section carved into the living rock are still evident.
During the excavation campaigns of 1949 and 1950, under the guidance of Luigi Bernabò Brea, terracotta and copper artefacts, ceramics, flame knives, digital rings, earrings and fibulae were found, as well as artefacts, today exhibited, together with a black and white blow-up of the site during excavation work, in the 'Paolo Orsi' Regional Museum in Syracuse.
With thanks to Luciano Maimonte for permission of the image.