The city - Calatafimi
Calatafimi rises on two hills, on a territory between Alcamo and Salemi.
The myth tells it would be founded by Aceste, arrived in Sicily together with some Trojans escaped from destruction. The sources assures its existence already in the Roman Age and its name, the origin of which is still argued, testifies the Arabian rule over itself. Later on conquered by the Normans, it entered the royal property.
In the first half of XIX century, the town took part in Sicilian insurrectional rebellions against harsh Bourbon government and, in 1860, it was the theatre of the hard battle between the Mille of Garibaldi (Garibaldi’s Troops) and the Bourbons that started the Sicily liberation.
The Churches - Built in the XV century, the Mother Church is one of the most ancient and of the most beautiful churches in the town. The Renaissance origin of the front has been obscured by following interventions. Inside, three columned naves still have several stuccos and an important marble polyptych of the beginning of 1500.
Also, fine is the eighteenth-century Church of Santissimo Crocifisso (Church of the Most Holy Crucified). The exterior, very simple in its neo-classic composition, preserves a much more sophisticated inner structure: with its frescos, golden stuccos and multi-coloured marbles of the altar it symbolizes a Baroque that is late in dieing away.
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