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ISNELLO |
Useful
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...After
Collesano you move into a mountain gorge, amid the
Madonie walls, and you climb until, at a bend, in the
distance the village of Isnello appears... as I looked
beyond the village, to my eyes there returned the
familiar images of a little village in Lucania. Isnello
resembles it: although it is bigger, less poor, cleaner.
It is a village of shepherds, farmers... craftsmen whose
art is now doomed to decay, but one remembers the golden
days when splendid laces were made, bells were smelted,
hides were tanned and glass was blown. Still today the
parts into which the village is divided are called
Vetreria (glass workshop), Fonderia (foundry) and
Conceria (tannery)... It is very old and hence full of
profound nobility. (Carlo Levi, Le parole sono
pietre)
Isnello
is a place where wool is still worked with the loom,
where hardworking and skilled hands stretch out true
"love nets", where the now vanished art of
processing glass and the tanning of hides is echoed in
place names, where the dialect does not exhibit
metaphony. Its healthy climate, cool waters and great
sense of hospitality make it an ideal holiday place.
Where to sleep
All the hotels +
restaurant
Park Hotel Piano Torre
C.da Piano Torre Tel. 0921 662671-2
La Montanina
C.da Piano Zucchi Tel. 0921 662030
Rifugio Orestano
C.da Piano Zucchi Tel. 0921 662159
Rifugio Lo Scoiattolo
C.da Piano Zucchi Tel. 0921 662831
Baita del Faggio
C.da Piano Zucchi Tel.
0921 662194
Ostello della Gioventù
C.da Piano Battaglia
Tel. 0921 649995
Paese Albergo Vincenza
Manzella
Via Roma, 27 Tel. 0921
662179
Azienda Agrituristica
Baucina
C.da Mongerrati Tel.
0921 662759
Where to eat
Pizzeria Santa Lucia
Via Dante, 32, Tel. 0921 662374
Pizzeria Lo Smeraldo
C.da S.Antonio 8 0921 662718
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How
to get there
From Palermo,
motorway to Messina, exit Cefalù. From bere thè SP
54bis (dir. Gibilmanna). Distance from Palermo, 85 kms.
Useful numbers
Town Hall
Tel. 0921 662032-662496
Bank • Banco di
Sicilia
Tel. 0921 662101
Library
Tel. 0921 662881
Madonie Parks Office
Tel. 0921 68401I
Church
Tel. 0921 662008
Post office
Tel. 0921 662059
Emergency
Gendarmery
Tel. 0921 662044
Chemist
Tel. 0921 662144
Medical guard
Tel. 0921 662634
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HISTORICAL
OUTLINE
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The site
on which Isnello stands has been inhabited since
prehistoric times, as we know from archaeological finds
in some caves of karst origin (Chiusilla, Fico and
Roccazzo caves). There are notices of a first settlement,
called Hassinor, in the Punic epoch, and probably during
the subsequent Hellenic epoch there was a small village
too.
Later
the Saracens settled here and they built one of their
typical farmsteads, calling it Menzil Al Hamar.
The
present-day name also derives from Arabic: Hassin (from
the Syrian for "cold river") was the name of
the river Asine. Likewise, the presence of the Arabs is
evident in various local place names.
From the
end of the 12th century to the 15th century, first under
the Angevins and then under the Aragonese, the history
of Isnello was tied up with that of its seigniors: from
the Abbates to the Filangeris, from the Ventimiglias to
the Santacolom-bas, and lastly the Licatas, Princes of
Baucina.
At the
end of the 18th century the magistrates of the commune
gave the princes a big sum, thus freeing themselves once
and for all from all seigniory and vassalage.
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MONUMENTS
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The
Mother Church
This church was
built in the fifteenth century; it has a nave and two
side aisles. It is dedicated to St. Nicholas, the patron
saint, depicted in a magnificent wooden statue from the
15th century. In the church you can admire 17th-century
stuccoes by Giuseppe Li Volsi (in the presbytery),
frescoes by Antonino Ferraro, a wooden choir done in
1601 (baroque works in carved wood are characteristic of
Isnello), a marble tabernacle attributed to Domenico
Gagini, the 1615 organ, also in carved and gilded wood,
and the fine Addolorata chapel decorated with frescoes
in the 16th century and containing a canvas by the Gangi
Cripple of "The Deposition".
The
San Michele Church
It was
presumably built between the 14th and 15th centuries.
There is a fine wooden caisson ceiling, minutely painted,
dating from the 11th century. The choir loft is one of
the many examples of the baroque carving art which is so
well represented at Isnello. One should also see the
Crucifix by Brother Umile ofPetralia, the fresco of St.
Leonard and the seventeenth-century canvas of the Forty
Martyrs.
The
Santa Maria Maggiore Church
It dates from
the end of the 14th century and in it there are fine
wooden works: a 16th-century crucifix (bifacial: on one
side there is the Crucifixion, on the other the
Resurrection) and a 1754 organ with a carved and
sculpted wind-ches. There is also a marble statue of the
Virgin dating from 1547, by a Sicilian artist. There are
outstanding baroque stuccoes.
The
Annunziata Church
It was founded
in the Middle Ages but restructured in the course of the
18th century.The marble statue of the Virgin, to whom
the church is dedicated, is one of the most interesting
works in the church, and another is the Archangel
Gabriel, by an artist of the Gagini school. Other fine
works are the eighteenth
The
Rosario Church
This church
previously belonged to the Dominican friars, but in the
16th century it was annexed to the palace of the Princes
of Isnello, who used it as their own chapel. It was one
of the princes, Pietro Santacolomba Denti, who
commissioned the magnificent altar cloth still on
display in the church. One should also see the
altarpiece, a very beautiful oil painting on wood by the
Flemish artist Simone da Wobrek, showing the Madonna del
Rosario and, at the edges, the fifteen mysteries. Lastly,
from the seventeenth century there dates the
"complete planet of Isnello", a rich sacred
vestment embroidered in gold, silk and coral.
Among
various works and monuments we must mention the bronze
sculpture by the local artist Pietro Gambelluca, done in
1987, representing the Madonie Mother, and the San
Leonardo Hermitage, now in ruins, dating from the 12th
century. Particularly well preserved at Isnello is the
medieval layout, characterised by little squares with
different shapes, to walk up through: in the top part of
the village, on a hillock, a few ruins bear witness to
the presence of an old castle.
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TRADITION
AND FOLKLORE
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The
feast in honour of the patron saint St. Nicholas is an
important moment of gathering, not only for the
inhabitants of the village but also for all those who
have emigrated from Isnello and come back home for the
occasion. The procession with the saint's bier is on the
last day of the feast
For
Easter too there is a solemn procession, on Good Friday,
with the last three tableaux of the traditional "Casazza",
a sacred representation. In a procession people carry
the Crucifix by Brother Umile ofPetralia, usually kept
at the San Michele church, Christ in the Urn, escorted
by young men dressed as Roman centurions, and the
Grieving Mother.
Another
religious feast, on 1st May, is the one in honour of the
Santa Maria Maggiore Crucifix. Before the feast there is
an octave of preparation, the so-called Crunedda, during
which prayers in Sicilian dialect are sung and recited.
The
climax is once again a procession, with people carrying
the Crucifix on their shoulders from the Santa Maria
Maggiore height all round the streets in the village,
accompanied by the members of the confraternity, who out
of devotion go barefoot and dressed in white.
On the
eve of the feast, the tradition is to hold the fritter
festival. In big recipients people cook a typical dish,
the fritter, prepared with artichokes, beans, peas and
wild fennel. Seasoned with tasty olive oil and
accompanied by abundant libations of local wine, the
fritter is offered to everyone present
Another
festival organised during a religious feast is the bean
festival: it is held on the evening of 29th June, in
honour of St. Peter. Originally a thanksgiving feast for
a good harvest, the festival is an opportunity to taste
exquisite Isnello beans, offered to everyone on tables
laid along the streets decorated with ivy and broom.
There
are two events in December: the big bonfire (the
"luminaria"), which is lit in the square for
Christmas Eve and "Nunna Vecchia", New Year's
Eve: young Isnello people run round the streets ringing
noisy bells announcing the end of the year.
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NATURAL
ENVIRONMENT
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The
village of lsnello lies among the folds in a valley, at
the foot of the Montagna Grande, and its natural setting
is the Madonie Park.The Isnel-\o oak wood, the Madonie
beech wood and the verdant slopes of the Monte Carbonara
follow one another just outside the village, with
monumental trees - holm-oaks, cork oaks, downy oaks -
characterising the Mon-taspro, Orippotto, Favara and
Piano Zucchi hills (Piano Zucchi is a well-known holiday
area, in summer and winter).
The
Isnello territory is very well known to speleologists
because there are some important caves in it. The best
known is the so-called Abisso del Vento (Abyss of the
Wind), a karst cavity going down to an incredible depth
of 230 metres.The cave, which is made up of a vast
network of wells and tunnels, is still largely
unexplored. In it there are a lot of stalactites and
stalagmites, in various shapes and sizes, which in some
stretches form an impenetrable jungle of very white
columns or give rise to shining waterfalls as well as
delimiting depressions and pools of freezing and very
clear water. Less well known are the Fico and Balatelle
caves, where in the past archaeologists found Neolithic
necropolises and stone weapons.
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HANDICRAFT
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Embroidery
is the best expression of Isnello handicraft, and indeed
some have called the village "the cradle of filet
and Madonie embroidery".
The best
known products are crochet work, 18th-century and
16th-century lace, filet, tatting, Sicilian embroidery,
lace-pillow and cross-stitch, all types of work
requiring great skill and patience, plus the use of
particular needles and instruments like looms, bobbins,
etc.
At one
time embroidery with gold and silk was very common, as
we see from the sumptuous sacred vestments in the
various churches in the village.
Every
year the local Council runs an exhibition of female work
and this is an opportunity not to be missed, not only
for those who love these products but also for those who
want to know them and to approach techniques and
traditions that elsewhere are often forgotten.
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TYPICAL
PRODUCTS
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The
Isnello gastronomic traditions are essentially based on
the produce of the land and linked to the seasonal
cycles of vegetation and the raising of animals. Among
first courses we can mention 'tagliarini chi lin-ticchi'
and 'maccaruna cu sucu' (fresh pasta respectively with
lentils and with tomato sauce), 'pasta chi ciciri' (chickpea
seeds), 'pasta ca frittedda' (a condiment based on fresh
legumes) and pasta with ricotta.
Other
very tasty typical dishes are 'carduna ca pastetta' (cardoons
in batter), 'frittedda' and 'pani frittu' (fried bread).
Among
desserts we can mention 'cudduruna', nougat, 'coma' (with
figs, almonds, mandarin orange peel in them; they are
made at the end of the year), 'aceddi cu l'ova' ("birds
with eggs"), typical of Easter, 'sfinci', 'mus-tazzoli'
based on honey, 'riso cu latti' (rice with milk) and 'cuddura
a l'ovu'.
In
summer Isnello women often make conserves: 'cutugnata' (quince
jam), 'astrattu' (tomato concentrate), 'pumaroru siccu
sutt'ogliu' (dried tomatoes in oil), 'mulinciani e pipi
sutt'ogliu' (eggplants and peppers in oil), 'caponatina'
and 'fund sutt'ogliu' (mushrooms in oil).
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