Set in a natural amphitheater looking at the Aeolian Islands, Roccavaldina is a village whose origins dated from the Middle Ages, with the name of Rocca, later was added Valdina by the name of the noble family that held the feud for some centuries.

The Valdina family bought the feud of Rocca in 1509. Very skilled merchants, they had close relations with Palermo where they lived and exercised the activity of Master Notaries of the Royal Grand Court of Sicily, as well as a whole series of activities related to the trade of cereals and especially silk.

Between the '500 and the '600,thanks to Valdina family, Rocca became an important and rich center with many that enriched this center of buildings and works of art:

the Pharmacy of the Brotherhood of SS. Sacramento, with its set of ceramic vases - produced in 1580 in Urbino in the workshop of Antonio Patanazzi, now recognized as one of the most precious in the world; the  Cathedral, dedicated to St. Nicholas which presents a typical post-Council architecture of Trento and contains valuable works of art.  Beside the Cathedral there is an imposing bell tower (1572) which also served as a watchtower to prevent the landings of pirates who at the time raided the island.

In the same period in Rocca were built religious buildings such as the church of Jesus and Mary and Franciscan monasteries, today it is possible to visit only a part of the convent of the Capuchins, transformed into Villa comunale.

While spending a lot of time in Palermo, the Valdinas chose to be buried in Rocca and thanks to this decision today we can admire the Tomb of Don Maurizio, by Camillo Camiliani or the Baroque chapel of St. Nicholas by Baldassarre Pampillonia which also houses the mortal remains of Prince Giovanni Valdina and Father Andrea.

To make their stay in the village more comfortable, the Valdina family had the castle restructured, which took on the particular form of a castle-palace, a project attributed to the architect Jacopo del Duca.