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The history of Spaccaforno, later to become Ispica: Inhabited as early as late Roman times and called Hyspicaefundus, immediately after 330 here lived in a cave as a hermit the monk Saint Ilarion of Gaza, whose miracles, performed in the small church of Santa Maria della Cava, soon gave him fame as a healer and surrounded him with a large following.
Having become part of the Swabian and Angevin dominions, around the beginning of the 14th century the Castle of Spaccaforno became the possession of Viceroy Berengario di Monterosso, treasurer of the kingdom, who then made a gift of it to Queen Eleanor of Anjou. The latter’s son, King Peter II of Sicily, granted it as a fief to his brother William, Duke of Athens, from whom it passed to his butler Manfredi Lancia.
Palermo historian Antonio Mongitore reports in his Della Sicilia Ricercata that St. Paul stayed for some time in Hyspicaefundus immediately after his arrival in Sicily, having landed in the locality of Port Ulysses, at that time used as a natural harbor. Apparently, near the settlement the apostle Paul caused a spring to spring, the water of which made snakes numb and then die.
It was thus through Antonio Caruso di Noto’s daughter, Isabella, that in 1494 the Feud of Spaccaforno was brought as dowry to her husband Francesco II Statella, 17th Count of Statella and 3rd Grand Siniscalco of the Kingdom of Sicily, as well as Lord of Roccella and Mongiolino. As a result of this marriage, in 1598 Francesco and Isabella’s successors obtained the title of marquis, and in 1757 that of prince.
Dominated by the Arabs from the 9th to the 11th century, Saracen rule did not end until around 1086, when all of southeastern Sicily was liberated by the great Count Roger the Norman. The first document mentioning the town by the name of Isbacha is in fact from the year 1093 and is a bull that Pope Urban II issued just immediately after the end of the Arab occupation of Sicily.
On January 11, 1693, at 1:30 p.m., Ispica, too, was hit by the violent earthquake that shook all of eastern Sicily. The entire town, much of which lay within the Cava, was razed to the ground. Rebuilt from the neighborhoods around the remaining standing churches of St. Anthony Abbot and the Carmine, the baroque beauties of St. Mary Major, the Church of St. Bartholomew and the Santissima Annunziata will also rise with the new Spaccaforno.
Over time the Statella family became related to many noble families and among them to that of the princes Reggio d’Aci, which enabled them to strengthen not only their political influence but also the possibilities for economic development on the eastern coast of Sicily. Among their artistic legacies are the Basilica dell’Annunziata and the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, authentic masterpieces of Sicilian Baroque.
The history of Spaccaforno, later to become Ispica: Inhabited as early as late Roman times and called Hyspicaefundus, immediately after 330 here lived in a cave as a hermit the monk Saint Ilarion of Gaza, whose miracles, performed in the small church of Santa Maria della Cava, soon gave him fame as a healer and surrounded him with a large following.
Palermo historian Antonio Mongitore reports in his Della Sicilia Ricercata that St. Paul stayed for some time in Hyspicaefundus immediately after his arrival in Sicily, having landed in the locality of Port Ulysses, at that time used as a natural harbor. Apparently, near the settlement the apostle Paul caused a spring to spring, the water of which made snakes numb and then die.
Dominated by the Arabs from the 9th to the 11th century, Saracen rule did not end until around 1086, when all of southeastern Sicily was liberated by the great Count Roger the Norman. The first document mentioning the town by the name of Isbacha is in fact from the year 1093 and is a bull that Pope Urban II issued just immediately after the end of the Arab occupation of Sicily.
Having become part of the Swabian and Angevin dominions, around the beginning of the 14th century the Castle of Spaccaforno became the possession of Viceroy Berengario di Monterosso, treasurer of the kingdom, who then made a gift of it to Queen Eleanor of Anjou. The latter’s son, King Peter II of Sicily, granted it as a fief to his brother William, Duke of Athens, from whom it passed to his butler Manfredi Lancia.
It was thus through Antonio Caruso di Noto’s daughter, Isabella, that in 1494 the Feud of Spaccaforno was brought as dowry to her husband Francesco II Statella, 17th Count of Statella and 3rd Grand Siniscalco of the Kingdom of Sicily, as well as Lord of Roccella and Mongiolino. As a result of this marriage, in 1598 Francesco and Isabella’s successors obtained the title of marquis, and in 1757 that of prince.
On January 11, 1693, at 1:30 p.m., Ispica, too, was hit by the violent earthquake that shook all of eastern Sicily. The entire town, much of which lay within the Cava, was razed to the ground. Rebuilt from the neighborhoods around the remaining standing churches of St. Anthony Abbot and the Carmine, the baroque beauties of St. Mary Major, the Church of St. Bartholomew and the Santissima Annunziata will also rise with the new Spaccaforno.
Over time the Statella family became related to many noble families and among them to that of the princes Reggio d’Aci, which enabled them to strengthen not only their political influence but also the possibilities for economic development on the east coast of Sicily.
Among their artistic legacies are the Basilica dell’Annunziata and the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, authentic masterpieces of Sicilian Baroque.
Although Ispica served as the setting for many scenes in the Commissario Montalbano series, it is not to Camilleri that it owes its television notoriety as much as to Pietro Germi, who shot his greatest cinematic success here in 1961: Divorce Italian Style.
Among the many films made here are Vittorio De Sica's Il Viaggio, shot in 1974 with Sophia Loren and Richard Burton; Kaos shot in 1984 by the Taviani brothers; La mossa del cavallo, based on Andrea Camilleri's novel of the same name and shot in 2017; and La stagione della caccia, also based on a Camilleri novel and shot in 2019.
Ispica is also the setting for the verist novel Profumo, written by Luigi Capuana in 1880 while he was residing in the town. Interesting among its pages is his description of the Holy Week procession, seen and experienced by the protagonists right from the balconies of Palazzo Santostefano...
The Territory
The Territory
We have always cared passionately for the Poderi di Palazzo Santostefano, carrying on a family tradition that, from the land to the table, holds the secret of an excellent oil
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