Castellammare del Golfo (; scn, Casteddammari; la, Emporium Segestanorum or ) is a town and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the Trapani Province of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. The name can be translated as "Sea Fortress on the Gulf", stemming from the medieval fortress in the harbor. The nearby body of water conversely takes its name from the town, and is known as Gulf of Castellammare. Heading upwards from its marina/harbour called "Cala Marina", with many restaurants and bars, the urban plan is made of steps and winding streets that lead to Piazza Petrolo in one direction or towards the main central gardens, where the town center lies with many shops, cafes and restaurants. The main street is called Corso Garibaldi. Castellammare del Golfo has been described as probably having the most beautiful peninsula in all of Sicily.

History

According to the opinion of historians and geographers such as

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

, Diodorus Siculus and Strabo, Castellammare del Golfo was born as Emporium Segestanorum, port of

Segesta Segesta ( grc-gre, Ἔγεστα, ''Egesta'', or , ''Ségesta'', or , ''Aígesta''; scn, Siggésta) was one of the major cities of the Elymians, one of the three indigenous peoples of Sicily. The other major cities of the Elymians were Eryx a ...

, a nearby city which shared the same ordeals until its fall. The

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

Invaded Castellammare del Golfo from 827 AD, and called it "Al Madarig", which means "The Steps", probably due to an uphill steep street leading from the harbour to the area of the fortified bastion. It was the

who first built the castle fortress, later enlarged by the Normans. The building rose on a rocky outcrop near the sea, linked to the mainland by a wooden drawbridge.Castellamare history
/ref>

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

has been important in Castellammare del Golfo since ancient times. Today the town's economy continues to be based on fishing with the addition of

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

. The small town is also noted for having been the birthplace of many Sicilian-American Mafia figures, including Sebastiano DiGaetano,

Salvatore Maranzano Salvatore Maranzano (; July 31, 1886 – September 10, 1931) was an Italian-American mobster from the town of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, and an early Cosa Nostra boss who led what later would become the Bonanno crime family in New York City. ...

, Stefano Magaddino,

Vito Bonventre Vito Bonventre (January 1, 1875 – July 15, 1930) was a New York City mobster who was a leading member of the Brooklyn gang that would later become the Bonanno Crime Family. He was arrested but then released in 1921 as the leader of a group know ...

John Tartamella John Tartamella (1892– July 12, 1966) was consigliere for over 30 years to Joseph Bonanno and his family. He was considered a very wise and shrewd elder-statesman who was respected throughout La Cosa Nostra.David CritchleThe Origin of Organized Cr ...

, and

Joseph Bonanno Joseph Charles Bonanno (born Giuseppe Carlo Bonanno; ; January 18, 1905 – May 11, 2002), sometimes referred to as Joe Bananas, was an Italian-American crime boss of the Bonanno crime family, which he ran from 1931 to 1968. Bonanno was born i ...

. This is the origin of the Castellamarese war, fought by the

Masseria Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria (; January 17, 1886April 15, 1931) was an early Italian-American Mafia boss in New York City. He was boss of what is now called the Genovese crime family, one of the New York City Mafia's Five Families, from 1922 ...

clan against the Maranzano clan for control of the

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. During the height of Italian immigration to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, many residents from Castellammare del Golfo immigrated to

, and settled on Elizabeth Street in

Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are ...

Italian Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fi ...

, and Bushwick,

Carroll Gardens Carroll Gardens is a neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Taking up around 40 city blocks, it is bounded by Degraw and Warren Streets (north), Hoyt and Smith Streets (east), Ninth Street or the G ...

and

East New York East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough li ...

neighborhoods of

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, many residents from Castellammare del Golfo continued to immigrate to New York City, this time, settling in the

Bensonhurst Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22n ...

and Gravesend neighborhoods of

as well as the Ridgewood and Middle Village neighborhoods of

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, the Morris Park section of the Bronx, New York and all throughout the borough of Staten Island. In the past decades Castellammare del Golfo has become an important tourist location as it is conveniently situated between Palermo and

Trapani Trapani ( , ; scn, Tràpani ; lat, Drepanum; grc, Δρέπανον) is a city and municipality (''comune'') on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an imp ...

Nearby places

Nearby places include

, with its Doric temple and an amphitheater where performances are still held. *

about 35 km to the west; * Palermo about 30 km to the east; *

Scopello __NOTOC__ The Commune of Scopello (Italian: ''Comune di Scopello''; population about 450) is located in the Valsesia region of the Italian Pennine Alps, in the Piedmontese Province of Vercelli. The municipality covers an area of and ranges in ...

with its ''tonnara'' (traditional tuna fishing ground) to the west; * San Vito Lo Capo to the west; *

Riserva naturale dello Zingaro Riserva naturale dello zingaro was the first natural reserve set up in Sicily in May 1981, located almost completely in the municipal territory of San Vito Lo Capo. It stretches along some seven kilometers of unspoilt coastline of the Gulf of Ca ...

also to the west, with its bay beaches only accessible on foot or boat; *

Erice Erice (; scn, Èrici) is a historic town and ''comune'' in the province of Trapani, Sicily, in southern Italy. Geography The main town of Erice is located on top of Mount Erice, at around above sea level, overlooking the city of Trapani, the ...

, a historic village, located above sea level. From Castellammare del Golfo you can take a boat trip departing from Cala Marina to the Egadi Islands situated in front of Trapani. To the east, the gulf of Castellammare has a stretch of of white sandy beaches.

Films

Castellammare del Golfo has also been a location for various films, including: * ''

For the Love of Mariastella ''For the Love of Mariastella'' ( it, Malacarne, also known as ''Turi della tonnara'') is a 1946 Italian melodrama film written and directed by Pino Mercanti. Based on a story of the Sicilian writer Giuseppe Zucca, it was mainly shot in the tonn ...

'' (1946) * ''

Ocean's Twelve ''Ocean's Twelve'' is a 2004 American heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by George Nolfi. The second installment in the ''Ocean's'' film trilogy franchise and the sequel to ''Ocean's Eleven'' (2001), the film features a ...

'' * ''

Avenging Angelo ''Avenging Angelo'' is a 2002 American direct-to-video action romantic comedy crime film directed by Martyn Burke and starring Sylvester Stallone, Madeleine Stowe, and Anthony Quinn. The film received mostly negative reviews. Plot Years ago, ...

'' * ''

My name is Tanino ''My Name Is Tanino'' is a 2002 comedy film directed by Paolo Virzì. The picaresque plot is about Tanino, an Italian liberal arts student who falls in love with a young American tourist he meets in Sicily and decides to track her down in the Un ...

'' * ''Cefalonia'' (TV series) * '' Inspector Montalbano'', episode "The Sense of Touch" * ''

Largo Winch ''Largo Winch'' is a Belgian comic book series by Philippe Francq and Jean Van Hamme, published by Dupuis. It started as a series of novels by Van Hamme in the late 1970s, but stopped due to a lack of success and the huge amount of work Van Hamme ...

'' * ''

Leaves of the Tree ''Leaves of the Tree'' is a 2015 Italian-American mystery drama film directed by Ante Novakovic and starring Eric Roberts, Sean Young, Federico Castelluccio and Armand Assante. It is based on the book ''Kindness for the Damned'' by D.J. Healey ...

People

, crime boss, historical leader of the Bonanno crime family *

, New York City mobster * Stefano Magaddino, crime boss of the Buffalo crime family *

, mobster, founder of the Bonanno crime family

References

External links

*
Castellammare's Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castellammare Del Golfo Municipalities of the Province of Trapani Populated coastal places in Italy

History

Nearby places

Films

People

See also

References

External links