PACHINO
The town
Pachino is situated in the south-east corner of Sicily. The neighboring towns are Noto, Portopalo di Capo Passero and Ispica. The sea is clear and a deep blue on the Ionian coast also in view of the seabed, instead of emerald green on the Mediterranean coast. The neighboring towns are Noto, Pachino and Ispica. In Pachino there are 22,000 inhabitants and its most famous fishing village is Marzamemi. Established in 1758, the city developed following a regular grid model with a large square in the center that occupies the place of four blocks. A good example of art in Pachino is the church Chiesa Madre SS. Crocifisso: built in 1790 by Marchese Vincenzo Starrabba for the Christian Community, it has a simple structure comprising a single aisle with a chapel on the right of the apse, there are the remains of Gaetano and Vincent Starrabba. Pachino is a city that bases its economy essentially on agriculture. Here we produce high-quality wine, such as Nero d’Avola and other wines. Basically most of the economy is still tied to the production of fruit and vegetables, which stand in the cherry tomatoes of Pachino (IGP) exported around the world.
Curiosity
The name of the town derives from the Roman word “bacchus”, that is the Greek and Roman god of wine, and the word “vinum”, which means wine in Latin; originally the town was named Bachino which eventually was changed to Pachino when, in Sicily, Italian became the official spoken and written language.
The coat of arms of Pachino
The coat of arms of Pachino looks like a box rounded to the two bottom corners and divided into three parts by horizontal lines. At the top there is a tower, in the middle there is a globe held by a support, at the bottom there is a pig, the animal which symbolizes the fertility of this good land.
History
Pachino was founded in 1760 by the nobles Starraba, princes of Giardinelli and marquises of Rudini, on the hill of the feud of Scibini, where a preexisting tower was built in 1494. Pachino was occupied in 1943 by the British 8th Army as part of the allied invasion of Sicily. The promontory of Pachino was formed during the Cretaceous (more than 70 million years ago). It seems that the Promontorium Pachyni was inhabited from the earliest prehistoric times, although these attendances are not many testimonials: about 10,000 years ago the cave was inhabited Corruggi, in which were discovered numerous archaeological finds, are largely preserved at the Regional Archaeological Museum of Paolo Orsi in Syracuse. These scrapers, knives, spears, awls, needles and other objects of everyday use. From the caves of Corruggi and Fico, during the Neolithic Period, (between 8000 and 1500 BC), a man went to live in the caves (one of the best known of this area is the Grotte Calafarina). Later, in the Iron, copper and bronze, until the arrival of the Sicilians, the cliff dwellings were moved to the nearby area called “Cugni of Calafarina”. Hence arose the village and the cemetery, a dolmen for the deceased and an underground oven for metalworking, whose remains were brought to light by Paolo Orsi, are still well preserved and quite visible today. In 750 BC, the ancient territory of Pachino was inhabited by the Phoenicians, the Punics, and the Greeks. From 200 to 400 AD, to dominate the area were the Romans were, which made it a center of commercial activity and colonization. With their greatly developed agriculture, and particularly the cultivation of grapes and wheat. In the Hellenistic Period were built several temples, one dedicated to Apollo Libystino. Still today remain the ruins of a temple shrine in the rural district Cugni, places in which they were drawn away Elorina rails, still visible on the rock. The district Cugni to the high concentration of ancient remains, appears to be a sort of “archaeological park”. After the Romans, the Byzantines came (from 300 to 800), then the Arabs (800 to 1090) and, finally, the Normans. The Arabs gave the name to the village of Marzamemi, in which they built the trap, remained in operation until the 1950s, introduced the cultivation of citrus fruits, reclaimed campaigns, complete the aqueduct of Xibini Tower, built, and the salt wells to irrigate fields Senia (still working), including one at the gates of Marzamemi, u said de puzzu quattru uocchi, used for centuries, even at the industrial level, by different peoples, including pirates. The city’s decline began with the Normans, the Aragonese and the Angevins. In this period the fortifications were built of Torre Torre Xibini and Fano against piratical invasions of the Turks. From 1583 to 1714, born in Sicily a hundred new feudal lands. In this period results in a substantial change in the geography of agro Netino, with the foundation, in the coastal strip between the traps of Marzamemi and Cape Passero and ports of Portopalo and Marza, Pachino and Portopalo. The story begins when the current Pachino, in 1734, the Starrabba of Piazza Armerina, owners of estates and Scibini Bimmisca and, as such, with the baronetcy in addition to the principles of Giardinelli, decided to reside in the territory to better care their interests and also to acquire the title of Count. To this end, the brothers Gaetano and Vincent Starrabba asked, in 1758, Charles III of Bourbon, and later, in 1760, Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies permission to found a city (licentia populandi), a decree was issued Naples, on July 21, 1760, and was made enforceable on 1 December 1760. Prince Ferdinand I wanted to enact the conditions of the Royal Decree. So he invited the neighbors to populate the new Maltese country and more than thirty families accepted the invitation.