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Here is a Short History of Contessa
Entellina, a comune in Sicily, south of Palermo. |
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The History of Contessa Entellina Part
1 Ancient and Early History The history today’s
Contessa Entellina dates to 1450, when a group of Albanian soldiers in
service to the King of Naples settled in and reconstructed an old village
called “Casale Comitissae.” Even
before that time, in what is now the surrounding territory of modern Contessa
Entellina, there were much older settlements, including the ancient city of
Entella, the great Monastery of Santa Maria del Bosco, and the large feudal
farmland of the Barony of Vaccarizzo. Entella, the oldest
of all settlements in the area of Contessa Entellina, was founded by the
Trojans in 1150 B.C. Entella, a high and well fortified location, was the
southern tip of a triangle of ancient forts in western Sicily, with Erice and
Segesta being the other two tips of the triangle. As happened in other
ancient cities of Sicily, Entella underwent domination by a series of
conquerors, including the Carthagians in 348 B.C., the Romans in 216 B.C.,
and the Saracens in 825 A.D. Frederick II destroyed Entella in 1246 A.D., as
he drove out the Saracens. Many townspeople of modern Contessa have
participated in the Important ongoing archeological excavations at Entella. The Castle of
Calatamauro, which was located right outside of modern Contessa, dates to at
least 800 A.D., when it was mentioned in the writings of an Arab
geographer By 1294 A.D., the property
was owned by a Catalan nobleman, and was later destroyed by the Corleonese.
Today there is a restaurant and planned hotel at the site of the old Castle. Documents from 1289
A.D. record the presence of hermits living in the forest of Calatamauro,
right outside modern Contessa. They moved higher up the mountainside to
establish the hermitage of Santa Maria del Bosco. By 1308 their church was
consecrated as a Basilica, and by 1309 the hermits accepted the monastic rule
of St. Benedict. The monastery subsequently became an important cultural
center for several centuries. It is currently in ruins, but has important
surviving artifacts, and breathtaking views of Contessa and the surrounding
countryside. Documents in the
Vatican library note that a priest by the name of Benedetto paid tithes in
1296 for two churches (S. Nicolo and SS Annunziata) in the village to become
modern Contessa. Between the 13th and
the mid 15th century, ownership of
the Casale (hamlet) of Contessa changed hands multiple times, between various
members of the French and Spanish nobility.
Part 2 - The Arrival of the Albanians Provided by Dr. Carmela Tardo - New Orleans |
