Motta Sant'Anastasia () is a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

region

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, located about southeast of Palermo and about west of Catania.

Geography

Motta Sant'Anastasia borders the following municipalities:

Belpasso Belpasso ( scn, Malupassu, Marpassu or Mappassu) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo and about northwest of Catania. Belpasso is the second bigges ...

, Camporotondo Etneo, Catania, Misterbianco. The oldest part of Motta Sant'Anastasia was built on a

volcanic plug A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile-charged ma ...

. A long and intense eruption dating back to 550,000 years ago caused the formation of this volcanic cone. Over the centuries, through erosion the cone has acquired its current shape having a quasi-regular, prismatic-hexagonal and pentagonal section, reaching a height of . The vegetation on the rock is made up of lichens and Indian fig (''Opuntia ficus-indica''), originally from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

but naturalized in the Mediterranean basin.

History

Motta, like other cities in the Simeto Valley, has ancient origins. Archaeological studies dating back to 1954 in contrada Ardizzone, testify

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

presence in the territory around the 5th–4th centuries BC. The Roman period, however, was evidenced by the discovery of some coins from the period of the great empire, and a

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

found in contrada Acquarone, belonging to a rural villa. On behalf of Motta Sant'Anastasia name there are several hypotheses. According to some scholars Motta (pre-Roman name) and Anastasia (Greek-Byzantine name) have similar meanings and indicate the nature of the place, the typical relief of the territory that has been characterized by the Neck and the surrounding area of Motta Sant'Anastasia. Later in the 12th–14th centuries, the two names were combined and citizens joined in devotion to Sant'Anastasia,

patroness Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

of the town. Motta, since as early as the 4th century BC, has held a role of considerable importance as a stronghold of warning and defence. This role grew in the Middle Ages, during the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

period, when Roger of Hauteville built a tower, in

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

stone, to guard the entrance of the plain of Catania and protect the area from Saracen incursions. "La Motta", in fact, consisted of an elevated place from where it was possible to control the entire territory. The first settlement outside the walls was the district of Urnazza that, around 1500, grew near the church of St. Anthony, previously a burial area. In 1526 the city became a fief of Antonio Moncada, Count of Adernò, and for four centuries, until the 20th century, the castle was used as a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

. In the late 17th century there were 560 inhabitants in Motta. Between the late 18th and the early 19th centuries, new neighborhoods formed, including Croce, Pozzo and Sciddichenti. In 1798 the inhabitants of Motta became 1400, rising to 2181 in the 1831 census of 1831. On 1 January 1820 the Court of Catania founded the separate commune of Motta Sant'Anastasia.

Main sights

The Tower of Motta ("

donjon A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in ...

" or " Keep" in English) was built between 1070 and 1074 by the will of the Count Roger of Hauteville. The massive tower with a rectangular plan, with a base of about , is about high and is a typical defensive structure of the early Middle Ages. The roof terrace retains almost intact battlements (22

merlon A merlon is the solid upright section of a battlement (a crenellated parapet) in medieval architecture or fortifications.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 202. Merlons are sometimes ...

s with rounded head). The structure consists of three elevations. Only the first of these is still the original arched windows ogive (external) and at all sixth (inside). The other two square windows, on other levels, such as the current front door, go back to the 15th century.The ground floor was designed for military housing. In it there are a number of holes for defence. Santa Maria del Rosario and Sant'Antonio da Padova are two of the town's churches. On the Strada Provinciale 13, near the Strada statale 121 (SS 121) and the neighbouring commune of Misterbianco is the German

War Cemetery A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to b ...

for German soldiers fallen in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

People

Giuseppe Di Stefano Giuseppe Di Stefano (24 July 19213 March 2008) was an Italian operatic tenor who sang professionally from the mid-1940s until the early 1990s. Called Pippo by both fans and friends, he was known as the "Golden voice" or "The most beautiful voic ...

was a native of Motta Sant'Anastasia.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Motta Sant'anastasia Cities and towns in Sicily