Ferla, a small pearl of Syracuse, is a medieval village, built on the remains of a Hellenistic necropolis. Before the earthquake of 1693, which completely erased the medieval town, Ferla had an irrational plan, because it was conditioned by the remarkable accident of the soil on which the town stood. 

Later the town was built further north than the old one, of which only the flat part and the one revolving around the Mother church, dedicated to San Giacomo, and the church of San Sebastiano were taken. In the steep areas, as is still evident today thanks to the preservation of a large complex of ruins to the south of the Castelverde district, the architecture was no longer rebuilt for residential purposes rather, in some cases it was used to obtain gardens and stables.

The only remains of the medieval village are those that meet in the so-called district of the Old Prisons, where the alleys and narrow streets refer to the typical architecture of the villages of the past.

Ferla is an ancient village full of places of worship full of history. In the village there is also a special street, named the Via Sacra, which corresponds to Via Vittorio Emanuele. Defined Sacred because along the street there are five religious buildings: the Church of the Carmine, the largest Church of San Sebastiano, the Mother Church, the church of Sant'Antonio and finally the Church of Santa Maria, which was a convent, school and prison.