Caltagirone is a historic hilltop town renowned as Sicily’s ceramic capital and recognised by UNESCO among the Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto. Its highlights include the richly tiled Scalinata di Santa Maria del Monte, artisan maiolica workshops, an extensive ceramics museum and elegant Baroque landmarks shaped by the rebuilding after the 1693 earthquake.
Piazza Umberto I is Caltagirone’s principal historic square, where locals gather on benches beneath the Sicilian sun among historic palazzi and traditional architecture. Its focal point is the Cattedrale di San Giuliano, with 12th-century origins, a Baroque interior and a distinctive light-blue domed roof above its later façade.
Corso Vittorio Emanuele is a historic central street in Caltagirone, lined with residential properties, local shops and notable buildings including the 16th- and 17th-century Palazzo Gravina-Pace. Near Villa Vittorio Emanuele and its Giardino Pubblico, it also offers a glimpse of the town’s ceramic tradition and historic architecture.
Established in 1965, Museo Regionale was the second such museum in Italy, following the one in Faenza. Its prehistoric and Greek collections include Neolithic wares, Greek red- and black-figure pottery and Hellenistic terracotta.