Populated since the 5th century BCE, as archaeological findings in the area attest, the medieval borgo of Polizzi Generosa (PA) had great importance throughout the centuries because of its position on the trazzera that connected Palermo with Messina. It is located on a high rock inside the Park of the Madonie.
It experienced a period of maximum expansion between the late 1400s and early 1500s, a moment of great financial and cultural ferment.
It became the headquarters for aristocratic families and landowning families and began to accumulate monuments and churches including the Chiesa Madre, dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta, which is probably Norman in origin. Destroyed in 1764, it was rebuilt retaining only part of the ancient structure’s southern wall with the late-Gothic portal of St. Christopher and two ogival windows. Facing the Chiesa Madre is the Church of San Gandolfo La Povera and, in nearby via Carlo V, the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie is also known as the Badia Nuova. This is followed immediately by the Church di San Nicolò de’ Franchis, one of the oldest in the city, and the Church of St. Margaret or Badia Vecchia, which dates to the 15th century.
The façade of the auditorium, based in the former Church of St. Francis, can be seen in vicolo Notarbartolo. The ruins of the Church di Santa Maria del Castello are in piazza Castello as is the former Palazzo Notarbartolo, which houses part of the Museo Ambientalistico Madonita. Sparse ruins of the castle can be found in Giardino Casale.
Piazza Trinità offers a stunning view over mountains, valleys and hills stretching down to the sea.
Sicilia Film Commission
Via Emanuele Notarbartolo 9 — 90141 Palermo
Phone: +39 091 7078008; +39 091 7078264; +39 091 7078133; +39 091 7078145
Email: filmcommission@regione.sicilia.it
