Old town of Bonifati

The old town of Bonifati is perched 425 metres up on the slopes of the Coastal Range, nestled between two hills each topped by a large cross: according to legend, the king and queen of the castle rest beneath the crosses. At the top stand the ruins of Castel Bonifati, the fortress attributed to the Normans that in 1270 gave its name to the fief granted by Charles I of Anjou to Gismondo Palmieri and was destroyed by the Angevins in the late 15th century. The route through the churches tells three centuries of art: the Rosary sanctuary, formerly Dominican, with the wooden statues of Dominic and Vincent from 1734 and the crucifix attributed to Umile da Petralia; the Convent of San Francesco di Paola (1518–1520), founded by a shepherd, Giovanni Mercorelli; the Church of the Calvario with Dirk Hendricksz’s painting of 1601 and the marble Madonna by Giandomenico Mazzolo donated in 1535 by Pietrantonio Sanseverino; and the Baroque Annunziata with its wooden choir by Fra Gennaro da Bonifati. Among the houses you come across Palazzo Favarulo, Palazzo Barbieri, Palazzo Scamardi-De Aloe, the Palazzo del Principe, Palazzo Francesco De Aloe and the 16th-century Torre di Porta Malvitana. On the first Sunday of October the village celebrates the Madonna del Rosario.