The town of Adrano (Catania Province) was originally Adronon and was founded by Dionysius 1, the tyrant of Siracusa near a temple to the god Hadranos, a local divinity which had a sanctuary here and was probably the personification of the volcano Etna. The territory was inhabitated in prehistoric times of which artifacts are now in the Siracusa Archaeological Museum. The southern part of the Sicel-Greek city walls, towers, and necropolis (9-5th century BC) have been excavated at Mendolito. Adranon was a military stronghold guarding a very important crossroads between Enna and Catania. In 344 BC it was saved from Dionysius II by Timoleon who was assisting Siracusa from Corinth. It was captured by the Romans in the First Punic War (263 BC) when the old city of Adronon was destroyed and replaced by Adrano.
We can see only a stretch of the south city walls remaining. They were made of lava blocks arranged in double rows.
The courtyard of the former Monastery of Santa Maria e Gesu contained many items which indicate it may have been built on the site of an ancient sanctuary. These artifacts can be found in the Archaelogical Museum in Adrano.
Links to other sites about Adranon include:
My latest book on CD is titled Sicily - A Reference for Researchers and is now available. With a file for each town (plus many other files), it relates the history of Sicily as reflected in the photos, records and festivals of its towns. It contains over 2500 text and photo files and can be ordered at CD order.
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