Serradifalco
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Serradifalco ( Sicilian: ''Serradifarcu'') 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 ...
'' in the
province of Caltanissetta The Province of Caltanissetta ( it, provincia di Caltanissetta; scn, pruvincia di Nissa or ; officially ''Libero consorzio comunale di Caltanissetta'') is a province in the southern part of Sicily, Italy. Following the suppression of the Sicilia ...
,
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
, Italy.


History

Serradifalco (from ''Serra del Falcone'', "Mountain of the Falcon") was founded in the
Kingdom of Sicily The Kingdom of Sicily ( la, Regnum Siciliae; it, Regno di Sicilia; scn, Regnu di Sicilia) was a state that existed in the south of the Italian Peninsula and for a time the region of Ifriqiya from its founding by Roger II of Sicily in 1130 un ...
, in a feudal fief which bore the same name since the late 15th century. The town itself was founded in 1640 under permit from King Philip IV of Spain to Maria Ventimiglia, grandmother and governess of Baron Francesco Grifeo, a minor. In 1652, ownership of the Barony and Town passed to the Lo Faso family. In 1666, it became a Duchy under Duke
Leonardo Lo Faso Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard. People Notable people with the name include: * Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Italian Renaissance scientist, ...
, and it remained in control of the House of Lo Faso until the abolition of feudalism in 1812. Its last duke was Domenico Antonio Lo Faso Pietrasanta (1783–1863). His rule was from 1809 through 1812. He was a renowned archaeologist and was instrumental in promulgating the excavation and restoration of the Valley of the Temples in
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 ...
. Sulfur mining, in some of the oldest mines in Sicily, and farming were the most prevalent occupations in Serradifalco after the Italian unification in 1860. Serradifalco was the site of the first bicycle manufacturer in southern Italy, '' Montante Cicli'', which produces one of the world's elite brands of bicycles. In the great emigration of Sicilians to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many Serradifalchesi farm laborers and sulfur miners went to American towns, including
Pittston Pittston is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The city gained prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as an active anthracite coal ...
and Robertsdale, where they worked as coal miners; and to Buffalo and its rural environs, where they found employment with the steel plants and railroads, and in the strawberry and corn fields.


Main sights

* The ''Chiesa Madre San Leonardo'' completed in 1755 in the roccocò style. * The ''Chiesa San Francesco'' (completed 1653). The town's first church and original ''Chiesa Madre''. * The ''Palazzo Ducale'', or Ducal Palace, in the town square (Piazza del Barone) * ''Lago Soprano'' (Soprano Lake, also called "Cuba"), a migratory fowl preserve with unique hydrology. It was formed only within the past hundred years, and has no surface streams flowing in or out. * In the ''Grottadacqua'' district, a Mycenaean necropolis with prehistoric Sicanian domed tombs. * The ''Testa dell'acqua'' (Head of water), an ancient fountain said to be the site of a mythical, magical ''Fiera di mezzanotte'' (Midnight Fair) that appears only once every seven years.


Twin towns

*
Colfontaine Colfontaine (; wa, Colfontinne; pcd, Colfontinne) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 20,021 inhabitants. The total area is 13.62 km², giving a population densi ...
, Belgium, since 1984


Bibliography

* Domenico Lo Faso Pietrasanta, ''The Antiquities of Sicily Described and Illustrated'', Palermo 1834-42 *Giovanni Fatta, Maria Clara Ruggieri Tricoli, ''Un rinnovamento sulla base della natura: Serradifalco e l’unità dello stile, Cavallari e il connubio di tecnica ed arte'', in ''Palermo nell’Età del Ferro'', Palermo 1983, pp. 88–92 *Giuseppe Testa, "Serradifalco", Serradifalco 1990 *Ettore Sessa, ''Domenico Lo Faso Pietrasanta, Duca di Serradifalco: ricerca del nuovo sistema di architettura e insegnamento privato'', in ''G.B.F. Basile, Lezioni di architettura'', a cura di Maria Giuffrè, G. Guerrera, Palermo 1995, pp. 269–277 *Gabriella Cianciolo Cosentino, ''Serradifalco e la Germania. La'' Stildiskussion ''tra Sicilia e Baviera 1823-1850'', Benevento 2004 *Gabriella Cianciolo Cosentino, ''Un manoscritto sull'architettura gotica del Duca di Serradifalco (1847)'', in "Lexicon. Storie e architettura in Sicilia" n. 2, 2006, pp. 80–87 *
Angelo F. Coniglio Angelo F. Coniglio (born August 21, 1936) is an American civil engineer, educator, genealogist and author. He was in the first graduating class (BSCE,1961) of the School of Civil Engineering established by Robert L. Ketter at the University of B ...
, ''
The Lady of the Wheel ''The Lady of the Wheel (La Ruotaia)'' is a 2012 historical fiction novel by Sicilian American author Angelo F. Coniglio. The book follows the life of a girl who was abandoned as an infant, with the major themes of the book including poverty, expl ...
'', Mineola, 2012


External links


Official Serradifalco website


* ttp://www.m.montantecicli.it/ Montante Bicycles website {{authority control Cities and towns in Sicily Populated places established in 1640 1640 establishments in Italy