Alia is perched on the southern hills of the Palermo province and surrounded by a beautiful fertile countryside, which was inhabited since ancient times. Infact, just outside Alia, are the Gurfa Caves, cut out of the rock by man in 5000 B.C. and inhabited for thousand of years.
Gurfah is an arabic word meaning cave used as a dwelling or top storey room.

You can still go inside and see the high- domed tholos and other rooms and tombs.

Alia proper was founded in 1615 on site of the landed estate of Lalia by Pietro Celesti, Marquis of Santa Croce. The village rises at a height of 750 metres above the sea-level and has a population of 4 200.

The Church of Maria SS di Tutte Le Grazie (Our Lady of All Graces) was built between 1630 and 1639 by Signora Francesca Cifuentes Imbarbara, wife of the town founder on the site of an earlier building, the Cappella del Crucifisso. It is a late renaissance building with some baroque features inside.

The Guccione family originally came from Tuscany at the beginning of 17th century. Their palace in Via Cardinale is the most important 19th century residential building. Located at Rapatello in the old section of the town, it has an art nouveau façade.