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Caccamo ( Sicilian: ''Càccamu'') is a town and ''
comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...
'' located on the Tyrrhenian coast of
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
in the
Metropolitan City of Palermo The Metropolitan City of Palermo ( it, Città metropolitana di Palermo; scn, Cità metrupulitana di Palermu) is a metropolitan city in Sicily, Italy. Its capital is the city of Palermo. It replaced the Province of Palermo and comprises the city ...
.


History

The official founding of Caccamo was not until 1093, when the
Normans The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...
started to build the castle on a rocky spur overlooking a cliff, Castello di Caccamo. The castle itself is actually now being slowly converted into a museum. On the ground level of the castle is a restaurant "A Castellana". Submerged within the Rosamarina lake is a stone bridge built in 1307 on the road that once linked the town with
Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...
. The city contains an attractive 11th-century
cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...
, which was remodeled in 1477 and 1614. On the side of the cathedral are two churches. The Chiesa dell'Anime del Purgatorio ''(Church of the Souls of Purgatory)'' features some
stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
work in the eastern end and an 18th-century organ. In the downstairs are
catacombs Catacombs are man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etymology and history The first place to be referred ...
where the skeletons of a number of townspeople lie in niches along the wall, a burial practice that lasted from the 17th century up to 1863. Since the 1950s the town itself has lost almost half of its inhabitants to emigration. Caccamo holds some great views of the surrounding countryside, including the Rosmarina artificial lake, which was created by a controversial dam built in 1993.


Notable people from Caccamo

* Giovanni "John" Stanfa, Italian-American mobster (former
boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...
of
Philadelphia crime family The Philadelphia crime family, also known as the Philadelphia Mafia, the Philly Mob or Philly Mafia, the Philadelphia-South Jersey Mafia, or Bruno-Scarfo family is an Italian-American Mafia family based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formed and ...
) and uncle of Antonino Giuffrè. * Antonino "Nino" Giuffrè, Italian mobster ( high-ranking member of
Corleonesi The Corleonesi Mafia clan was a faction within the Corleone family of the Sicilian Mafia, formed in the 1970s. Notable leaders included Luciano Leggio, Salvatore Riina, Bernardo Provenzano, and Leoluca Bagarella. Corleonesi affiliates were not ...
) and nephew of
John Stanfa Giovanni "John" Stanfa (; born December 7, 1940) is an Italian-born American former boss of the Philadelphia crime family from 1991 to 1995. Convicted of multiple charges in 1995, Stanfa was sentenced to life in prison. Early life Stanfa was b ...
.


References


External links


Caccamo page on netgalaxy.it
(in Italian)
Caccamo page on sicilyweb.com
(in Italian)


City of Caccamo web site Reference



Sito Fotografico Caccamo


Municipalities of the Metropolitan City of Palermo {{sicily-geo-stub