Niscemi is a small city and comune in the free municipal consortium of Caltanissetta, in Sicily, Italy, with a population of 24,535 inhabitants. It lies on a plateau about 332 metres above sea level, in the Gela plain area, roughly 90 kilometres from Catania. The town's name is thought to derive from an Arabic word for a particular type of tree. Its historic centre dates largely to the late 17th century, after the town was rebuilt following the 1693 earthquake.
Founding and history
A town called Nixenum was founded after the Norman conquest in 1143, and the area later became a rural fief. The Branciforte family acquired the lands and received a licence to populate the territory in 1626, after which the principality of Niscemi was established in 1627. The town was heavily damaged by the 1693 earthquake and rebuilt on the same site. In 1997 a landslide destroyed part of the Sante Croci neighbourhood, and in January 2026 another landslide damaged the area again, forcing the evacuation of more than a thousand people.
Monuments and culture
The main square, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele III, overlooks the churches of Santa Maria d'Itria and Addolorata and the Palazzo di Città. The Belvedere Terrace, built in 1803, offers views over the Gela plain and the Maroglio River valley. The town has a municipal library named after Mario Gori and a Civic Museum housed in a former Franciscan convent, which was inaugurated in 2018.