Caltavuturo

Caltavuturo (Sicilian: Caltavuturu) is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily, Italy. The neighboring comunes are Polizzi Generosa, Scillato and Sclafani Bagni.

Caltavuturo
Comune di Caltavuturo
Coat of arms
Location of Caltavuturo
Caltavuturo
Location of Caltavuturo in Italy
Caltavuturo
Caltavuturo (Sicily)
Coordinates: 37°49′N 13°53′E
CountryItaly
RegionSicily
Metropolitan cityPalermo (PA)
Government
  MayorDomenico Giannopolo (since 14 June 2004)
Area
  Total97.2 km2 (37.5 sq mi)
Elevation
635 m (2,083 ft)
Population
 (2004)[2]
  Total4,440
  Density46/km2 (120/sq mi)
Demonym(s)Caltavuturesi
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
  Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
90022
Dialing code0921
Patron saintMaria Santissima del Soccorso
WebsiteOfficial website

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 Abu Thawr 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 Abu Thawr"), which is the origin of the modern name.[3][4] 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.[5]

References

  1. "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Istat. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  2. "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Istat. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  3. Talbi, Mohamed (1966). L'Émirat aghlabide, 184-296/800-909: histoire politique (in French). Librairie d'Amérique et d'Orient, Adrien-Maisinneuve. p. 494.
  4. 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
  5. (in Italian) L’eccidio di «San Sebastiano», La Sicilia, 8 February 2009



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