Caltanissetta is a city and comune located on the western interior of Sicily, capital of the province of Caltanissetta. It lies in an area of rolling hills with small villages and towns, crossed by the river Salso. Caltanissetta is the hub of public transport in the area. Caltanissetta is also the site of a longwave transmitter (shutdown in 2002) and shortwave transmitter. The mast used for the longwave transmitter may be the tallest structure in italy.

Main sights

• Palazzo Moncada is a large building, remained unfinished, erected in 1635 by the Count Guglielmo Moncada. Its construction was not completed, as Guglielmo received his appointment as Viceroy of Valencia and moved to Spain. The façade is finely decorated with precious friezes zoomorphic and anthropomorphic baroque.
• The Cathedral of Santa Maria la Nova was built between the years 1560-1620 and was opened to the public in 1622. The façade was completed in the year 1840. The church has a late-Renaissance appearance that breaks the characteristic Baroque mold of most of the island of Sicily. Inside are frescoes by the Flemish painter Guglielmo Borremans, who worked here from 1722. Other works include a wooden Blessed Virgin draped in silver lamina (1760) and a polychrome wooden statue of St. Michael the Archangel by the sculptor Stefano Li Volsi, located in a large chapel of the aisle with two marble statues portraying the Archangels Gabriel and Raphael by artist Vincenzo Vitaliano. The Treasury houses a fine silver monstrance from the 15th century.
• The church of St. Agatha at College was built between 1600 and 1610 on an existing church, also dedicated to St. Agatha, in late-Renaissance style. The façade is by Natale Masuccio, and is decorated by frameworks on a light coloured background. It has a Greek cross plant, with splendid Baroque decorations includings frescoes by Luigi Borremans (18th century). The works of the adjacent Jesuit College (from which the church is named) began in 1589 and ended until the second half of the 19th century.
• The church of San Sebastiano was built around the 16th century as a tribute to San Sebastian by the people for deliverance from the plague and is located in Piazza Garibaldi, right in front of the Cathedral. In 1711 it was amended along the length to give space to the Piazza Garibaldi. On that occasion, a new façade, designed by Pasquale Saetta in the late 19th century, embellished with columns belonging to all three classical orders: at the bottom of the Doric, Ionicin middle and the top of the Corinthian. There are also double-and niches in which are placed statues of the sculptor Francesco Biangardi, who worked in Caltanissetta on the late 19th century. The sculptures represent the central part of Saints Peter and Paul, while the upper band, you can admire the statue of San Sebastian pierced with arrows, placed in memory of his martyrdom.
• The church of San Domenico (16th century, with a convex façade from the 18th century) houses noteworthy paintings by Guglielmo Borremans and Filippo Paladini (Madonna del Rosario). The painting depicting the Madonna del Carmelo, also by Paladini, is now usedi in the Cathedral.
• The Palazzo Vescovile ("Bishop's Palace") is the seat of the Museum of Sacred Art. It has a painting by Gian Battista Corradini of the Madonna del Rosario (1614).
• The church of the Santa Croce ("Holy Cross") is from the 17th century but has been substantially altered.

Caltanissetta is also home to the Museo Archeologico, which holds displays from mostly prehistoric times and include finds from digs conducted in the 1950s, including vases and tools from the Bronze Age and early Sicilian ceramics. In the neighbourhood of Caltanissetta two other notable monuments can be seen:

• The Castle of Pietrarossa ("Red Stone Castle"), which was built largely with red stones, stands on the edge of the city and dominates from the ravine on which it stands, the whole valley and the Salso River. It is assumed that it was built at the time of Arab rule, but the most accepted version says that the castle was built by the Byzantines between 750 and 800. During the Middle Ages was a strategic center and around the end of the eleventh century there was placed the tomb of Queen Adelasia, niece of the Norman King Ruggero and in 1378 it was held inside a parliament of the barons in Sicily to name the four vicars that would be governed Sicily (Government of the Four Vicari). In 1407, the castle became the property of the Moncada family and began his period of decline since, now used only to military functions, it was deemed unsuitable as a noble residence. At the end of the fifteenth century, the castle dungeons were even used as prisons. In 1567 a strong earthquake caused the collapse of the castle remained standing alone in the ruins of two towers, still visible today.
• The Abbey of the Santo Spirito (Holy Spirit), built by Count Ruggero the Norman and his wife in 1092-1098 and consecrated in 1153, though heavily altered in the following centuries. The original forms are still recognizable in the posterior part, with its characteristic massive jutting apses. These are parted by flat pilasters strips and connected by a series of little arcches. The left entrance has an ogival portal from the 13th century. The lunette once contained a figure of Christ Blessing, which was eventually moved inside the church. The latter has a rectangular nave and a wooden-beamed ceiling. The walls and the apses have frescoes attributed to the 15th century. The vault of the apse shows a 17th century figure of Christ Pantocrator.