Giarre

Giarre (Zip Code 95014) is 218 Km. distant from Agrigento, 152 Km. from Caltanissetta, 26 Km. from Catania, which is the province it belongs to, 123 Km. from Enna, 70 Km. from Messina, 258 Km. from Palermo, 130 Km. from Ragusa, 84 Km. from Siracusa, 357 Km. from Trapani.

The municipality counts 27.184 inhabitants, its surface measures 2.748 hectares, and its population density counts 989 inhabitants per square kilometre. It rises over a coastal hilly area, 81 meters above the sea-level.

The Town Hall is located in via Callipoli n. 81, tel. ++39 095-963111 fax. ++39 095-963234, toll free number 800234658 (only for italian residence). E-mail address is: giarre.urp@omnia.it.

A big agricultural a commercial center, Giarre boasts a rich production of citrus plants, vegetables, grapes, olives, and cereals, exhibited during the annual citrus, vegetable and fruit Fair held in the month of September.

The local handicraft activity is outstanding for the production of wrought iron and copper objects, exhibited during the Sicilian Handcrafts Exhibit/Market held every year in the month of December.

The name Giarre derives from the Sicilian term Giarri, that means "jar, terra-cotta container". These jars were handmade by local skilled craftsmen for the conservation of foodstuffs of the nearby county of Màscali.

The first inhabited center rose in the VII century B.C. by will of a colony of Calcidesi who had installed in that land.

During the Roman era, it was devastated by numerous slave insurrections ultimately and always repressed in blood.

Since the center was under the jurisdiction of the nearby town Màscali until 1815, it experienced an autonomous growth only as of the second half of 1800.

Architecturally, the most relevant monuments are the neo-classic Duomo, erected as of 1794, preserving a beautiful painting of the Vergine e i Santi (the Virgin and the Saints) by Pietro Paolo Vasta (1697-1760), and the Chapel dedicated to S. Lucia, that preserves a painting of 1849 representing the image of the martyr of S. Agata, by Giuseppe Vaccaro (1793-1866).

One of Giarre's most outstanding citizens was Alfio Russo (1902-1976), a famous journalist who directed the following papers: "La Sicilia" in Catania, the "Nazione" in Florence, and the "Corriere della Sera" in Milan.