{"id":68368,"date":"2015-02-19T13:38:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T12:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sicile-sicilia.net\/?p=68368"},"modified":"2026-10-14T08:18:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T07:18:48","slug":"lentini-and-the-ancient-lentinoi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sicile-sicilia.net\/en\/lentini-and-the-ancient-lentinoi","title":{"rendered":"Lentini and the ancient Lentinoi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lentini<\/strong> is a Sicilian town located in the province of Syracuse, in south-eastern Sicily, on the first slopes of the Hyblaean Mountains<\/a>. It owes its fame to its history, founded in the 8th century BC by Greeks from Chalcis who called it Leontinoi<\/strong>.
Besides the religious buildings of the historic centre, resulting from the Baroque reconstruction after the 1693 earthquake, one
can discover the archaeological area of the Castellaccio<\/strong>, with the remains of the medieval fortress and the Grotto of the Crucifix, as well as the archaeological site of the ancient city.<\/p>\n

Visiting Lentini and its heritage<\/h2>\n

Historic centre<\/h3>\n

The eventful history of Lentini has bequeathed it several remarkable buildings, first of all the Chiesa Madre de Santa Maria la Cava et Sant’Alfio<\/strong>. It is an 18th-century Baroque church, whose history dates back to Byzantine times, with a rather sober facade and an elegant interior, preserving a Byzantine icon of the Madonna Odigitria from the 12th century, funeral altars, an interesting effigy of the brothers and saints Alfio, Filadelfo and Cirino, martyred in 253 in Lentini.
Several churches are of interest, such as the church of the Holy Trinity and San Marziano built on the ruins of an ancient monastery and of the 16th-century La Palumba palace; the church of the fountain (or of the three saints) which was rebuilt in 1805 on the site of the martyrdom of the three holy brothers; the Capuchin convent, the 18th-century church of the Immaculate Conception; San Francesco di Paola, etc<\/p>\n

The regional archaeological museum of Lentini<\/strong> houses an important collection, illustrating the history of the town and its territory from prehistory to the Middle Ages, passing through the Greeks and Romans.<\/p>\n\n\n