Randazzo, queen of the Alcantara Valley, located at the confluence of three major communication routes, from the top of its 754 meters above sea level, dominates the entire enchanting valley. It is a town of 12,000 inhabitants, the closest to the craters of Etna which is just 15 km away.
A charming town on the northern side of Etna, dominating the Alcantara Valley towards which it slopes gently, it is located at the crossroads of three important provinces: Catania, Messina and Enna, strategically located in the center of what was once the Val Demone.
Undisputed historical and traditional evidence regarding the origins of Randazzo are confirmed by the fact that it is located in an area rich in archaeological finds that go from the Neolithic period to the Byzantine age up to the 7th century AD.
The findings of fortuitous excavations in various localities, such as in S. Caterina, Donna Bianca, Imbischi, Acquafredda, where in the past a huge mass of shards of all kinds was found, from prehistoric objects to archaic Sicilian terracotta, the discovery of a Hellenistic necropolis in the Contrada S. Anastasia six kilometers from Randazzo (Tissa), the striking ruins of old Byzantine churches in the Contrade Imbischi, Jannazzo and Acquafredda, testify that in the past centuries there was a center, or centers inhabited, in which the populations left large documentation of their civilization.
With its natural landscape beauties and the charm of its ancient works of art, churches, old palaces, museums that house archaeological and scientific remains of great value, with its streets and alleys in lava stone, it is a real environmental and architectural pearl, set in the heart of a varied and unique territory at the same time, made even more precious by the presence of three protected areas: the Regional Park of Etna, that of the Nebrodi and the Alcantara River Park. Another place not to be missed are the Alcantara Gorges, formed over the centuries thanks to the erosive action of the cold waters of the river of the same name.
