The main square of Grammichele, named after its founder, Don Carlo Maria Carafa Branciforte, Baron of Occhiolà, is a magnificent sight.
The square was destroyed by the 1693 earthquake.
The survivors were led by Don Carlo Maria Carafa to his fief of “Gran Michele”, where the new urban settlement would be built.
The construction of the town was entrusted to the architect Fra’ Michele da Ferla, but the design of the urban plan is attributed to Don Carlo himself, who drew the hexagonal plan on a slate tablet, now kept in the Town Hall.
The heart of the project is the square, also hexagonal, from which six peripheral districts radiate.
In the middle of the square there used to be a sundial in the shape of a cross, which was recently replaced by a new sundial consisting of a monumental bronze sculpture representing a man on his knees – the symbol of time – holding a pole (“the gnomon”), the work of Murat Cura.
To the south of the square stands a bronze statue by Paolo Guerrera representing Don Carlo Carafa at the top of a staircase, in the act of approaching the city.
The square is overlooked from a scenic point of view by the Mother Church of San Michele Arcangelo and by the Town Hall.
