: You can also sell your grandmother here 
: Just try it out
: Hello all, just leave a post here i. e. your website www.sicilian.net Ciao Gunnar
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2009
Balestrate in Sicily
Balestrate (Sicilian: Sicciara) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Palermo in the Italian region Sicily, located about 35 km southwest of Palermo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 5,853 and an area of 3.9 km².
Located in Western Sicily, on the rail line between Palermo and Trapani, Balestrate is exactly in the center of the Gulf of Castellamare. In previous times it was where much of the grape crop was grown for the island’s famous Marsala wine. Today Balestrate’s main industry is fishing and tourism. A small town of nearly 6000 most of the year, Balestrate’s population swells up to almost 30,000 during the Summer season with vacationing Europeans and Italians from the colder climates seeking the warm water and sun.
The Coat of Arms of Balestrate with its Norman crown, honors “Sicciara,” the town’s original name, with the symbol of the cuttlefish (“sicci”) so abundant in its waters. Residents of Balestrate still call themselves “sicciaroti” – the “cuttlefish people” – in honor of the old name.
Spanish King Federico III of Aragon gave the territory of Balestrate to the town of Partinico in 1307. According to local legend, a crossbow (“balestra”) was used to shoot an arrow from the water’s edge, its landing point determining the border of the town’s environs; and giving its eventual name – Balestrate.
In 1672, a landowner named Rosalia Leto bequeathed uncultivated lands to the locals on condition that they cultivate them. The small town began to take shape, becoming self-governing in 1829. Its development continued to flourish in large part due to the investments of the English winemaking companies of Ingham, Woodhouse, Whittaker and the Palermitan Florio family. In many ways the early fortune of Balestrate was tied in with the rising popularity of sweet Marsala wine.
Google News from Sicily
Powered by Twitter Tools.
Powered by Twitter Tools.
The Associated Press 
Powered by Twitter Tools.
Terrasini in Sicily
 |
| From Terrasini, Sicily |
Terrasini is located between Palermo and Trapani, 24 km west of Palermo, 32 meters above the sea level in the wide and evocative Gulf of Castellammare, in the past, theatre of historical events and sailed by Greek, Phoenician and Roman vessels. It is a center of tourism, with a population of about 10.000, which triples in the summer months, not only for the location of the town but also for the hospitality of it’s people. Terrasini probably got it’s name because of the coast filled with caverns from Latin “terraesinus”.
During the 1760s the inhabitants of villages dispersed along the western coast of Sicily wereoften lucky enough to run into a picturesque character dressed as a doctor, with a dreamy air about him. It was in their nature to doff their caps as a sign of respect for “The Abbot”, and they were responded to with a benevolentnod of the head as he continued his walk along the pathways of the coast or countryside. Having found a spot conducive to his spiritual requirements – often thee vocative Grotta Perciata – the man would then stop and remain lying for hours, absorbed in the reading of writers with names un pronounceable for the fishermen and shepherds that he encountered. Or else with lively eyes he would watch the seagulls flying, or the butterflies, the light playing on the rocks, the lizards racing, the rustling olive branches, the foambreaking on the waves. It was thus that Giovanni Meli composed, for it is of he that we speak, his Elegies and songs of the Buccolica, inspired by the smell of the seasalt carried on the wind, the rustling of the vegetation, the thousand colours of the never-ending Sicilian nature. Among the poet’s preferred places when searching for inspiration were the countryside and, above all, the coast of Terrasini and Favarotta, two neighbouring villages founded in the 18th Century on the mouth of the wide Gulf of Castellammare.
Nature |
|
 |
As though sculpted by the wind and waves here are Cala Bianca, Cala Rossa, Baiadi Guidaloca, the promontory of Capo Rama of notable geological interest with cliffs that overhang the sea 60 meters high and along the coast many magnificent grottoes that together provide an almost unreal scenery of colour in this corner of the island. |
Naturalistic Excursions |
|
| The biologically important depths make interesting scuba excursions possible to discover a sea that is still alive, where nature rules. Terrasini?s scuba school with its equipment is available to teach or guide all enthusiasts from the age of twelve years upwards. It is also possible to take splendid boat trips to the grottoes and along the coast with Nicol? Parisi (just ask in the harbour for him). For those who love to take a walk among nature and animals the place to visit is the Zoo Fattoria. Horsetrekking. |  |
Culture |
|
 |
It is worth visiting the three sections of the Civic Museum, these contain the naturalist section with collections of ornithology, insects, mammels, shells and minerals of European importance, the archeological and ethno-antropological sections, all of the material in the collections will soon be housed in the palazzo d’Aumale recently renovated in all it’s splendour. |
History |
|
| The lookout-towers built against the raids of the Saracens, standing on the cliffs, give witness to their story of sea and countryside; the Palazzo D?Aumale – an ex wine production plant founded by Henri d?Orleans; the Mother Church founded in the 18th century dedicated to Maria SS delle Grazie; the 18th century palaces of the princes La Grua; the Villa Fassini – an example of Liberty by the great architect Basile in Sicily. All this and more is offered by Terrasini, a town of old and noble origins. |  |
Customs |
|
 |
The feast DI LI SCHIETTI, the only one of its kind, takes place on Easter Sunday: the unmarried men have to demonstrate their strength to the town girls by lifting an orange tree, weighting 50 kg, on one hand. It is a spectacle that attracts hundreds of tourists. |
Powered by Twitter Tools.
More Options ...
Categories
Tag Cloud
Blog RSS
Comments RSS
Void « Default
Life 
Earth 
Wind 
Water 
Fire Light
The Wall RSS Feed
Email this story
Previous Entries
Last 50 Posts
Back