Caltavuturo
| Caltavuturo | ||
|---|---|---|
| Comune | ||
| Comune di Caltavuturo | ||
| ||
  Caltavuturo Location of Caltavuturo in Italy | ||
| Coordinates: 37°49′N 13°53′E / 37.817°N 13.883°ECoordinates: 37°49′N 13°53′E / 37.817°N 13.883°E | ||
| Country | Italy | |
| Region | Sicily | |
| Metropolitan city | Palermo (PA) | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Domenico Giannopolo (since 14 June 2004) | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 97.2 km2 (37.5 sq mi) | |
| Elevation | 635 m (2,083 ft) | |
| Population (2004) | ||
| • Total | 4,440 | |
| • Density | 46/km2 (120/sq mi) | |
| Demonym(s) | Caltavuturesi | |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) | |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) | |
| Postal code | 90022 | |
| Dialing code | 0921 | |
| Patron saint | Maria Santissima del Soccorso | |
| Website | Official website | |
Caltavuturo (Sicilian: Caltavuturu) is a town and comune in the Province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy. The neighboring comunes are Polizzi Generosa, Scillato and Sclafani Bagni.
History
According to many scholars, the name and origin of the town are traced back to the period of Arab rule. According to Ibn al-Athir (The Complete History, VII.370.5–7), in AH 268 (881/82 CE), the Aghlabid commander Abū Ṯawr was defeated by the Byzantines (probably commanded by the strategos Mosilikes) and his was army annihilated, with only seven men surviving. The locality was later named in Arabic Qalʿat Abī Ṯawr ("Castle of Abū Ṯawr"), which is the origin of the modern name.[1][2] Others instead maintain that the name derives from the Arabic word "qal'at" (fortress) and the Sicilian "vuturu" (vulture) meaning of "fortress of vultures." The town existed under Byzantine rule pre Arab conquest as Aziz Ahmad in “A Islamic History of Sicily” ( edinburgh university press 1975) states that in 852 Abbas raided Caltavuturo in the northern part of the Island and took many prisoners who were sold as slaves,
The town was the site of the so-called Caltavuturo massacre on 20 January 1893, when local authorities killed 13 and wounded 21 peasants that had occupied communal land that they claimed was theirs.[3]
References
- ↑ Talbi, Mohamed (1966). L'Émirat aghlabide, 184-296/800-909: histoire politique (in French). Librairie d'Amérique et d'Orient, Adrien-Maisinneuve. p. 494.
- ↑ Vasiliev, A.A. (1968), Byzance et les Arabes, Tome II, 1ére partie: Les relations politiques de Byzance et des Arabes à L'époque de la dynastie macédonienne (867–959) (in French), French ed.: Henri Grégoire, Marius Canard, Brussels: Éditions de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales, p. 106
- ↑ (in Italian) L’eccidio di «San Sebastiano», La Sicilia, 8 February 2009
