It is the “capital city” of the Madonie area. Start your visit from the Mother church and go all the way up to the impressive Castle standing on the top of the San Pietro hill. The medieval castle was built in 1316 by Francesco I of Ventimiglia and houses the XVI century Chapel of Sant’Anna, decorated with stuccoes of the school of Serpotta and the Court Bank where vestments, altar cloths and holy vessels from the Chapel, together with contemporary artworks, are on exhibition.
The Mother church is outstanding, and features a late XIV century marble ciborium and a beautiful statue of the Madonna of the Angels ascribed to Gagini. There are many other churches worth a visit: the New Mother church, where works by Antonello da Messina and from the school of Pietro Novelli are, the late medieval church of San Francesco enriched by Francesco Laurana’s portico which directly leads to the Ventimiglias’ funerary chapel, and the Church of Sant’Antonio Martire, containing one of the most precious crucifixes by Fra’ Umile from Petralia.
The town hosts the Minà Palumbo Museum of Natural Science, containing significant botanical, geological and natural collections, and an area dedicated to the explanation of the manna production cycle.
Castelbuono boasts an amazing natural context and offers to the possibility of organizing several excursions, for example to Piano Sempria or to Piano Pomo, famous for its centenary giant holly wood. A Jazz festival is held in August.
Websites: http://www.comune.castelbuono.pa.it/ http://www.parcodellemadonie.it/home.htm
