Favara 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 ...
'' of south central
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
(
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
), in the
province of Agrigento
The Province of Agrigento ( it, Provincia di Agrigento; scn, Pruvincia di Girgenti; officially ''Libero consorzio comunale di Agrigento'') is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy, situated on its south-western coast. Follo ...
, north-east of
Agrigento
Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one of ...
by road, with which it forms a
conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ca ...
.
Historically, the town has had a considerable agricultural trade, and there are
sulfur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
and other mines in the neighborhood.
It is regionally famous for the ''Easter Lamb'', a local pastry produced there from almonds and pistachios.
Territory
The town is located on the slope of a 533 m hill, ''Monte Caltafaraci'', locally known as the ''Muntaggnedda'' (''little mountain'' in Sicilian). The average elevation is 338 m, with a minimum of 20 m and a maximum of 533 m. Favara is part of the agricultural region #5 ''Agrigento seaside hills'' ( it, Colline litoranee di Agrigento). The local climate falls into the ''Csa'' category of the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
, i.e. a warm Mediterranean climate with hot and dry summers and temperate winters, with temperature rarely dropping below 0 °C.
History
The first signs of human habitation of the area can be dated to the late copper age (2400-1990 a.C.), with monochrome red pottery in the Malpasso style found in a cave in
contrada
A (plural: ) is a subdivision (of various types) of Italian city, now unofficial. Depending on the case, a will be a ''località'', a ''rione'', a ''quartiere'' (''terziere'', etc.), a '' borgo'', or even a suburb. The best-known are the 1 ...
''Ticchiara''. An excavation of a later burial site (1900-1450 a.C.) from
contrada
A (plural: ) is a subdivision (of various types) of Italian city, now unofficial. Depending on the case, a will be a ''località'', a ''rione'', a ''quartiere'' (''terziere'', etc.), a '' borgo'', or even a suburb. The best-known are the 1 ...
''Grazia Vicina'' has yielded gray achromatic ceramic with connection to the Conca d'Oro style (late copper age in the Palermo region) and to archaic forms of the Castelluccio style (early Bronze Age in central-southern Sicily). Another burial site has been identified in contrada ''San Vincenzo'', which can be dated to the middle Bronze Age (around 1450 a.C.).
Remains of a fortification dating to the period of the
Greek colonies in Sicily can be found in ''Contrada Caltafaraci''. Following the Roman and Byzantine domination, the Saracen established themselves in Sicily in the 9th and 10th century. A settlement flourished in contrada ''Saraceno'' and many traces of their domination can still be found in the denomination of local geographical places. The name of the town itself originates from the Arabian ''fawwāra'' ( ar, ﻓﻮﺍﺭة), meaning "Gurgling pool of water".
Tracce arabo-musulmane nella toponomastica siciliana - Dol's Magazine
/ref>
During the subsequent Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
domination several large structures were built, among others the Chiaramonte Castle, also known as the Medieval Palace. In the 14th century the castle passed to the Chiaramonte family, from which it took its current name. In the 15th century, although protected by city walls, the town underwent a period of population decline, especially between 1439 and 1464. This trend was reversed from 1478 to 1497. In the 16th century the efforts of the De Marinis family contributed to a greater development of Favara.
In the 19th century, in the background of the unification of Italy
The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century Political movement, political and social movement that resulted in the Merger (politics), consolidation of List of historic stat ...
and up to 1883, Favara was the main hub of a large criminal organization known as Fratellanza di Favara.
In contemporary history, the mayor of Favara, Gaetano Guarino, was murdered on May 16, 1946, by unknown perpetrators.
Calogero Marrone (1889-1945), Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...
, was born and raised in Favara.
Main sights
The town possesses a Castle of the 11th- to 15th-century noble Chiaramonte
The Chiaramonte are a noble family of Sicily. They became the most powerful and wealthy family in Sicily. In the 13th century the marriage of Manfredi Chiaramonte to Isabella Mosca, united the two Sicilian counties of Modica and Ragusa. Aroun ...
family, erected in 1280.
Twin towns
* Andújar
Andújar () is a Spanish municipality of 38,539 people (2005) in the province of Jaén, in Andalusia. The municipality is divided by the Guadalquivir River. The northern part of the municipality is where the Natural Park of the Sierra de Andú ...
, Spain, since 2004
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Municipalities of the Province of Agrigento
Castles in Italy