Founded by Arab settlers who named it Zabut, after the emir who built its castle, Sambuca still shows that heritage in its tight, shaded lanes and hidden courtyards, a layout reminiscent of a casbah rather than a typical Sicilian hill town.
It was voted one of Italy's most beautiful villages (Borghi più belli d'Italia) in 2016, and later made international headlines for a scheme selling abandoned houses in the historic centre for one euro, an effort to repopulate a town that had lost residents to emigration over the decades.
Try the Minne di Vergine, a cream-filled pastry said to have been invented here by a nun in 1725. The town also overlooks its own small lake, Lago Arancio, formed by a dam in the 1970s.