Maniace (Italian: ''Maniace''; Sicilian dialect: ''Maniaci'') is a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions (''Regions of Italy, regioni'') and provinces (''Provinces ...

'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania in the Italian region

Sicily Sicily ( it, Sicilia , ) is the list of islands in the Mediterranean, largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. The Strait of Messina divides it from the region of Calabria in Southern Italy. I ...

, located about east of

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...

and about northwest of

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also b ...

. The municipality bears the name of

George Maniakes George Maniakes (, transliterated as Georgios Maniaces, Maniakis, or Maniaches, , ; died 1043) was a prominent general of the Byzantine Empire of Byzantine Greek origin during the 11 ...

( el, Γεώργιος Μανιάκης; it, Giorgio Maniace), a Byzantine general of the 11th century and catepan of Italy, known for his victories against the Arabs in Sicily.

Main sights

Castello di Maniace

The Castello di Maniace (aliter ''Castello Bronte'' and ''Castello dei Nelson'' ("Castle of the Nelsons")) is a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals wi ...

built on the site of a former ancient monastery 1 km east of the centre of the small village of Maniace and 5 km north of the large town of Bronte, on the eastern foothills of

Mount Etna Mount Etna, or simply Etna ( it, Etna or ; scn, Muncibbeḍḍu or ; la, Aetna; grc, Αἴτνα and ), is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina ...

. From 1799 to 1981 it was the seat of the Dukes of Bronte, English noblemen, the first of whom was Admiral

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought abo ...

(1758-1805), in 1799 created Duke of Bronte by King Ferdinand III of Sicily and Naples. In 1981 the manor house and large estate was sold to the Commune of Bronte by Alexander Hood, 4th Viscount Bridport (born 1948), 7th Duke of Bronte, descended from the daughter of

William Nelson, 1st Earl Nelson William Nelson, 1st Earl Nelson, 2nd Duke of Bronte (20 April 1757 – 28 February 1835), was an Anglican clergyman and an older brother of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson. Life Born in Burnham Thorpe, he was a son of the Reverend Edm ...

(1757-1835) 2nd Duke of Bronte, elder brother and heir of Admiral Nelson. The Castello di Maniace is situated on the left bank of the River Saraceno on the site of the former Benedictine Abbey Of Santa Maria of Maniace, built in 1174 by the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

William II of Sicily William II (December 115311 November 1189), called the Good, was king of Sicily from 1166 to 1189. From surviving sources William's character is indistinct. Lacking in military enterprise, secluded and pleasure-loving, he seldom emerged from his ...

("The Good"),

King of Sicily The monarchs of Sicily ruled from the establishment of the County of Sicily in 1071 until the "perfect fusion" in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1816. The origins of the Sicilian monarchy lie in the Norman conquest of southern Italy which occ ...

from 1166 to 1189 (seated at

) and husband of Princess Joan of England (1165-1199), a daughter of King Henry II (1154-1189) of England. It was dedicated to the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

(Santa Maria), by the express wish of his mother Queen

Margaret of Navarre Margaret of Navarre (french: Marguerite, es, Margarita, it, Margherita) (c. 1135 – 12 August 1183) was Queen of Sicily as the wife of William I (1154–1166) and the regent during the minority of her son, William II. Queen consort Margaret ...

, in memory of the great Battle of Maniace in 1040, won near the site by Giorgio Maniace against the Arabs.

Monastic Church of St Mary

The nave and magnificent West Door (main entrance) of the ancient Norman-style (called Romanesque in Italy) monastic church, dedicated to Santa Maria, survives with part of the

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...

, as one side of the rectangular courtyard of the manorial buildings, in the centre of which survives an ancient stone well. The former

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. O ...

and transept tower of the church (roughly the entire eastern half) is missing, believed to have collapsed during the terrible earthquake of 1693, with the site partly built over later by a new granary building in which the foundations of the triple apse were recently discovered. Since 1981 the granary building has been converted by the Council of Bronte into a conference hall. The church with the other adjoining manorial buildings were restored and reconstructed in 1800 on the order of Admiral Neson, 1st Duke of Bronte, who never set foot on his estate, having been killed 5 years later in heroic circumstances during the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1 ...

References

Cities and towns in Sicily {{Sicily-geo-stub