Italian-American pop icon Madonna has marked her 64th and her son Rocco Ritchie’s 22nd birthdays in Sicily’s famed Val di Noto. She chose the town of Pachino near Siracusa for celebrating the birthday of the son she had with British film director Guy Ritchie on August 11, 2000.
Madonna is also celebrating her own 64th birthday in another nearby Baroque jewel, the lavish palazzo Castelluccio at Noto. The singer was born Madonna Louise Ciccone on August 16, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan, to Catholic parents Madonna Louise (née Fortin) and Silvio Anthony “Tony” Ciccone.
Her father’s parents were Italian immigrants originally from Pacentro near L’Aquila in Abruzzo, while her mother was of French-Canadian descent.
In June 2002, UNESCO inscribed the towns of the Val di Noto on the World Heritage List as “representing the culmination and final flowering of Baroque art in Europe”.[2] The listed towns are Caltagirone, Militello in Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa, and Scicli.
The family are currently staying in the luxurious Palazzo Castelluccio, an 18th Century Sicilian palace. The Queen of Pop has reportedly spent thousands on the celebrations and flying her family to Italy.
