SANTUARIO GIBILMANNA

Whatever your faith, you must try to attend a mass at the sanctuary of Gibilmanna, just to hear these bearded monks of the Capuchin Friars Minor evoke a certain "Djesou" (Jesus). The experience is striking and almost plunges us into the Sicily of another time. We are 997 metres above sea level, on the Sant'Angelo peak, at the heights of spirituality, far from the cities and deep in the Sicilian nature, in the highest lands of the island. The sanctuary, built in the 17th century, next to a monastery dating back to the 6th century and erected by Gregory the Great, remains a very important place of pilgrimage in Sicily. However, the main reason for coming here is to celebrate the feast of the Virgin Mary every year, on September 8. From the esplanade, the panoramic view of the coast is striking, especially at sunset. Within the monastery grounds is an ethnographic museum which exhibits objects from the daily life of the countryside in the past (loom, carriages) and liturgical objects, the work of the Capuchin friars. There are also sacred ceremonial vestments (chasubles, stoles embroidered with silk and gold thread), paintings, and sculptures in wood and wax depicting biblical scenes. The library houses a valuable collection of 65,000 books, including 16th-century incunabula and the 1558 first edition of Tommaso Fazello's De Rebus Siculis. A little higher up is the National Geophysical Observatory, which hosts students and researchers of various nationalities.