SICILY, COUNTRY OF DREAMS!

SCIACCA

some streets of city centre (click to enlarge)

Municipality of Sicily in the province of Agrigento, located on the shores of the Sicilian Channel between the mouth of the Platani river and that of the Belice, near Monte Calogero (Monte Cronio).

The municipal area has an area of 190.30 square kilometers and borders the municipalities of Caltabellotta, Menfi, Ribera, Sambuca di Sicilia.

The population is approximately 41,000 inhabitants.

History

Archaeological finds have demonstrated the human presence in the Sciacca area already in prehistoric times. It was the center of the Sicani and in the seventh century BC. the inhabitants of Selinunte built a castle there near the thermal springs (Terme Selinuntine).

In 409 BC Selinunte was conquered by the Carthaginians and many of its inhabitants took refuge at Terme Selinuntine where in 383 Dionysius of Syracuse defeated the Punic invaders.

In 378 A.D. the Carthaginian Imilcone near Monte Cronio defeated the Syracusans by conquering a large part of the territory of Agrigento.

In the imperial age the locality, renamed Aquae Labodes, became an important post office.

In 840 it was occupied by the Arabs who coined the current name of Sciacca. During the Arab domination the city believed of importance and population and became a prosperous capital.

In 1087 Sciacca passed to the Normans who built the walls of the Old Castle, had the condition of a state-owned city, interrupted only for a period when in 1100 it was granted as a fief to Giuditta daughter of Count Ruggero, and maintained the domination of the Normans, the Swabians , of the Angevins and the Aragonese.

In 1355 it passed under the lordship of Guglielmo Peralti count of Caltabellotta and was later disputed between the Luna and Perollo families.

Under the Spaniards, the Austrians and the Bourbons the city also fell due to some earthquakes. In 1821, under Ferdinand I of Bourbon, it became part of the province of Girgenti.

With the arrival of Garibaldi in Sicily, Sciacca was liberated on May 14, 1860 and was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.

(TEXT'S SOURCE : http://www.sunelweb.net/modules/sections/index.php?artid=10165).

in this pic: Basilica of Maria Santissima del soccorso