RagusaAcate.
The town, of feudal origin, was in the fief of Biscari, which is mentioned as long ago as the 13th c. In the mid 17th c. Agatino Paternò Castello transferred the town to a higher and healthier area (the low-lying marshy valleys were plagued with malaria). It was badly damaged by the earthquake in 1693, but it recovered and prospered under Vincenzo Paternò Castello in the 18th c. It kept its original name of Biscari until 1938, when it assumed the classical denomination of Acate, from Achates, the Romans' name for the River Dirillo (achates is the Latin word for agate, which is found in abundance on the river-banks).

In Piazza Libertà stands the Chiesa Madre, San Nicola, which dates from the 17th c. It collapsed in an earthquake in 1691 and was rebuilt on a smaller scale in 1859; the façade was completed in about 1950; the powerful original structure is still visible in the apse. Across the square from the church is the Castle founded by Raimondo Castello in 1454, as could be read in an inscription now no longer in existence. It is quadrangular in plan, with three towers in the front part; the original aspect was much altered by 18th c. restoration work. Also noteworthy is the adjacent 18th c. Chiesetta di San Vincenzo. The lit tle church contains St Vincent's mortal remains.