At the bottom of Mount Lauro, among woods of chestnuts, hazels and cork trees, Buccheri is the highest town in the province of Siracusa, 820 mt above sea level. Founded by Arabs, during their effort to carry out a series of fortifications to defend the high Anapo Valley (they built even Buscemi and Cassaro), with the Normans it began a village around a fortress, more equipped than the Arab one. The origin of the word “Buccheri” is not certain: following someone, the town was named Buccheri after “Bucker”, the name of an Arab general who built the first fortress. Some other thinks the origin of the name is in the Latin “buquerium”, meaning “common pasture”.
In Piazza Roma there is the characteristic Fountain of Canals, of 16th century, the Church of St Mary Magdalene, of 18th century, whose front is in part by Michelangelo Di Giacomo.
Through a long scale built in 1911 you can arrive to the church of St Anthony Abbot, built in many steps for more than a century from 1702 to 1815. St Anthony, with its three orders front, literally dominates the town. The interior, with basilica-like plant, is divided in three aisles.
On the Tereo hill there are the remains of the Norman castle dominating a wonderful panorama. At the bottom of the town the cathedral dedicated to St Ambrose.
In the nearby there is the church of St Andrew, a rare example of Swebian religious architecture of the 13th century. In the same zone, inside a marvellous rural countryside, the gorge of the “Stritta”, a canyon full of grottos made by the erosion of San Leonardo river.
“Archive A.P.T. Syracuse”
Chiesa S. M. Maddalena
Bosco di S. Maria (Foto: Vacirca)
Panoramica (Foto: L. Nifosi)
