Villa Fegotto

The first written records date back to the XNUMXth century, when the property belonged to Girolamo Landolina of the Landolina di Noto, Barons of Carnicera, from whom it passed to his son Girolamo and then to his nephew Aurelio. 
From the Landolina family, the property passed into the hands of the Cannizzo and then of the La Jacona, who obtained to convert their title from Baroni del Patro to Baroni del Fegotto. 
Afterwards, however, the fiefdom was granted in emphyteusis to Paolo Rizza, who was followed by his son Vito and his nephew Evangelista: it was they who profoundly transformed it, cultivating it and managing it with entrepreneurial criteria that were completely avant-garde for Sicily at that time.

Until the 50s, everything was cultivated and raised at the Fegotto. From vines to olive trees, from carob trees to almond trees, from wheat to tobacco and even silkworms, those that came from this fiefdom were all excellent productions, punctually awarded in national agricultural exhibitions.

Precisely this vast production activity meant that a group of factories soon developed around the original building, such as the millstone for grapes, the oil millfor olives, the cottage for the cheese, in addition to the cellar,  barn,  stalls, even to the workshops for thefarrier and carpenter, while in the large kitchens bread was prepared and milk was processed: these rich rooms are still perfectly preserved today, complete with furnishings and tools as they were at the time.

Thanks to the prominent public role of the Rizza family (Paolo was an ideot Judge, Vito was Mayor of Chiaramonte Gulfi, Evangelista was Deputy of the Kingdom), Fegotto also became center of social and religious reference in the territory, to the point that the Church (which remained a parish church until the 70s), the State School (opened in 1908 and active until 1976), the Carabinieri Barracks and even the Post Office were among its buildings. (Source: www.villafegotto.it)

The garden

The Garden of the Villa is included in the network of Mediterranean Gardens (GARDMED) created as part of the European project of the same name PO Italy-Malta 2007-2013). The garden, located behind the main house, is organized according to the scheme of the nineteenth-century formal garden, intended as a place of pleasure with a recreational function and a fruit orchard for productive purposes. There are many decorative elements present: vases, seats, columns, statues, the stone gazebo. Villa Fegotto offers a rich collection of plants with various fruit trees mixed with exotic plants, including Ficus, various palms, cycads, maglolia trees, false pepper, malaleuca and age-old hackberry. (Source: Mediterranean Gardens between Sicily and Malta - edited by Anna Guglielmo and Joseph Buhagiar - GARDMED Project - PO Italia - Malta 2007-2013)

Well Bound

Card insertion: Ignatius Caloggero

Information contributions: Villa Fegotto, Ignazio Caloggero, Web 

Note: The populating of the files of the Heritage database proceeds in incremental phases: cataloging, georeferencing, insertion of information and images. The cultural property in question has been cataloged, georeferenced and the first information entered. In order to enrich the information content, further contributions are welcome, if you wish you can contribute through our area "Your Contributions"

Disclaimer note