The town, which is a center for citrus fruit is situated on a lava terrace above the Simeto Valley on the southwestern slope of Mount Etna.
Until 1929, when it was given back its old name, the town was called Adernò. Its present name is derived from the Siculian god Adranos; around 400 B.C. Dionysios I of Siracuse founded the town of Adranon (Latin Hadranum) on the site of this god's shrine. In 263 B.C. it was conquered by the Romans.
The little town of Biancavilla (3km/2mi to the southeast of Adrano) was founded in 1489 by refugees from Albania, following similar settlements in Contessa Entellina (1450) and Piana degli Albanesi (1488). In the Chiesa Madre stands the Albanian Madonna dell'Elemosina.
Bronte (17km/11mi to the north of Adrano) has been ravaged by eruptions from Mount Etna on various occasions. In 1799 the British admiral Lord Nelson was given the town, with considerable land attached to it, in fee by King Ferdinand IV, with the result that even today Nelson's descendants own property around here.
Under Roger I (1060-91) a Norman castle was built here in 1070 on the site of some Saracen ruins. Like the fortifications in Paternò and Motto Sant'Anastasia its construction was intended to make his rule of Catania secure. It is a rectangular keep, which was altered in the 14th and 16th centuries. On the first floor a chapel with remains of frescoes has been preserved.
In the Piazza Umberto I in the center of Adrano, where the castle stands, the Chiesa Madre can also be found. It dates back to the Norman period and has three aisles divided by 16 lava pillars.
Since 1980 the Euryalos solar energy station has been in operation in Adrano. It is a Franco- German-Italian communal project and its brief is to develop new sources of energy. It is comprised of 182 mirrors which are controlled by a computer to reflect sunlight.
On the Via Roma in Adrano stands the former convent of Santa Lucia. It is a Norman foundation dating back to 1158. The present building was erected in 1596. From the center of its long, three-storyed expanse, the late Baroque, twin-towered facade of the church (1775) stands out. Its interior is an oval central area.
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Biancavilla, Italy
