Santa Maria di Licodia

Santa Maria di Licodia (Sicilian: Santa Marìa di Licuddìa ) is a town and comune in eastern Sicily, in the province of Catania, southern Italy. History Santa Maria di Lodia occupies traditionally the site of the ancient Aetna, a settlement founded by the colonists whom Hiero I of Syracuse had placed at Catania after their expulsion by the original inhabitants in 461 BCE, which absorbed or incorporated an already existing Sicel town named Inessa. Main sights Chiesa Madre (Mother Church). Of the original medieval building, a bell tower has remained Cherubim Fountain (1757) CAsina del Cavaliere, a Benedictine convent of medieval origin, outside the town. A large hoard of coins was found also outside Santa Maria di Licodia in 1891. In the nearby district of Civita is a large elliptical area, enclosed by a wall of masses of lava, which is about 8.5 metres (28 ft) wide at the base and 3 metres (10 ft) high. The ground is covered with fragments of tiles and pottery of the classical period, and it is probably a hastily built encampment of historic times rather than a primitive fortification, as there are no prehistoric traces. The Patronal feast of St. Joseph Twin towns Rabat, Malta Pisano Eteno, a frazione of Zafferana Etnea, Italy San Giuseppe di Ognina, Catania, Italy References This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.