Grammichele (Sicilian: Grammicheli,
Greek: Echetle (meaning "plowshare"); Latin: Echetla, Ochula;
Medieval: Occhiolà) is a town and comune in
the Metropolitan City of Catania in Sicily,
southern Italy.
It is located at the feet of the Hyblaean Mountains, some 13 kilometres
(8 mi) from Caltagirone.
The town was built in 1693, after the old
town of Occhiolà, located to the north of the modern Grammichele, was destroyed
by an earthquake. Occhiolà, on account of the
similarity of name, is generally identified with Echetla, a
frontier city between Syracusan and Carthaginian territory
in the time of Hiero II, which appears to have been
originally a Sicel city
in which Greek civilization prevailed from the 5th
century onwards.[3]
The devastation of the old town was so
severe that the feudal landlord of the town, Carlo Maria Carafa Branciforte,
Prince of Butari, commissioned construction of a new town, with plans aided by
Michele da Ferla. Supposedly the Prince himself sketched out the initial
hexagonal layout. In the center of the hexagon is the Piazza Carlo Maria
Carafa, faced by the Chiesa Madre (Mother Church), San Michele Arcangelo, and the
Palazzo Communale (City Hall). The town of Avola, destroyed by
the same earthquake, was also relocated and rebuilt along a hexagonal layout.
