Castelbueno - 2018

Castelbuono is a little enchanted jewel and, as in any respectable fairy tale, there’s an impressive castle! Up a staircase we come to the clock tower where you can see and hear the ticking of time through a device that, since 1885, with its gears in motion, relentless beats the hours, minutes and seconds. Castelbuono is also known for its manna, a whitish stalactite, vaguely sweet, hanging from the ashes of Castelbuono and the nearby Pollina: the sap of these trees comes out from the incisions made on stems and branches and, once dried under the hot summer sun, it is collected and used as a sweetener, laxative, depurative and even for cosmetical and medicinal purposes. It was built by the powerful Count Francesco I Ventimiglia in 1317, upon an existing watchtower of the 12th century. It hosted the court of one of the most influential families of Sicilian history, even more powerful than the Vicerè!
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A relic, said to be the jawbone of St. Ann (Mary's mother) kept here, shown yearly.