Piazza Sant'Antonino e belvedere

Piazza Sant’Antonino is Castelmola’s entrance square and belvedere, paved in a mosaic of white lava stone. Its outlook extends over Taormina, the Ionian coast and the Gulf of Giardini Naxos, with Etna inland.

Why it matters

The square took its present form in 1954, with paving in white lava stone, tree-lined walkways, stone seats and an open edge above the coast. Castelmola occupies the ridge above Taormina, and from the square the view follows the Ionian shoreline toward the Strait of Messina; Calabria is visible on clear days.

What to notice

White lava stone forms the square’s geometric pavement; shaded walks and stone benches line its edge.

A limestone staircase leads to the village’s entrance arch, which stood apart when the square was laid out. The arch is dated to around 900 and has Greco-Roman styling.

The former church of Sant’Antonino, now a municipal auditorium, faces the square. Nearby, Caffè San Giorgio was founded by monks in the eighteenth century and has kept a visitors’ album since 1907. The panorama includes Taormina, Mount Tauro, the Gulf of Giardini Naxos, Capo Sant’Alessio, the Strait of Messina, Calabria and Etna.

Context and history

The setting explains the square. The village name joins "castle" and "mola" — the millstone-shaped rock it crowns — and the ancient settlement above Taormina was known as Myle. In 1078 Roger the Norman defeated the Arabs here and raised a fortified settlement around the castle, of which powerful Norman walls survive; a tenth-century Greek-Byzantine inscription on the cathedral façade records that the castle was built under a patrician and strategos of Sicily named Constantine. The square is a twentieth-century addition to the medieval village. When the road to Taormina was built in 1927, the original rock-cut gate was moved to the castle entrance. The surviving arch remained at the village threshold, and the square was built around it in 1954. At Caffè San Giorgio, owner Don Vincenzo Blandano is credited with creating Castelmola’s almond wine, made with almonds and orange essence.