SiracusaFrancofonte.
Very likely the Siceliot city of Hydra was located
NE of Francofonte. The modern town developed in
the second half of the l4th c., around the castle;
it was the fief of various farnilies -Chiaromonte,
Cruyllas, Moncada and Gravina.
The Chiesa Madre and Palazzo Palagonia, now the
Town Hall, are in the town centre, in Piazza Garibaldi.
Some interesting mascarons and finely sculpted corbels
in the corner balconies characterize Palazzo Gravina,
built in the 18th c. by Ferdinando Francesco Gravina
on a wing of the mediaeval castle, which was destroyed
by the earthquake in 1693 (it was quadrangular in
plan, with circular towers, two ofwhich survive).
