San Biagio Platani

San Biagio Platani ( Sicilian: ''San Mrasi or San Brasi'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region Sicily, located about south of Palermo and about north of Agrigento. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 3,689 and an area of .All demographics and other statistics: Italian statistical institute Istat. San Biagio Platani is famous for its "Easter Arches" (Gli Archi di Pasqua.)

San Biagio Platani borders the following municipalities: Alessandria della Rocca, Casteltermini, Sant'Angelo Muxaro, Santo Stefano Quisquina.

The village has substantial diaspora populations in Chicago, Berazategui, and Pforzheim.

History

The origins date back to 1635, the year in which Giovanni Battista Gerardi obtained the licentia populandi. Gaetano Di Giovanni, in his work "Notizie storiche su Casteltermini e il suo territorio", attributes the foundation of the urban settlement to Mariano Gianguercio in 1648. Mentioning in his " ''Cedolario dei feudi della Val di Mazara"'' , the "La terra di San Biagio". But the licentia instead suggests that the town began to develop a few years earlier, with a few houses around a small church. This settlement now consists of several key features of the main street of San Biagio Platani, still known by its prior official name " Via Piazza, or "La Chiazza".

After the suppression of feudalism in Sicily the village like most of the area began to be characterized by a huge shift towards the Americas and the general marginalization of the island. The population of San Biagio, along with much of the area continued its traditional economy. Hence the extensive agriculture through the settlement of the fiefdoms. But the foundation of urban agglomerations also had other purposes linked to the prestige of the feudal lords. At the time, a village with more than 80 people gave the prince the right to a seat in parliament or to one more vote, in addition to power over his subjects through the faculty of administering justice within his own fiefdom. The fiefdom of San Biagio initially consisted of the lands of San Biagio, Gialdonieri and Mandralia. In 1660 the fiefdom of Ragattano was added, thanks to an exchange carried out by the feudal lords Ioppolo and Gianguercio. The fief was thus made up of 1,830 individuals. The inhabited center developed from the beginning around the Mother Church and the Ducal Palace. An orthogonal layout was established, the main axis of which is Corso Umberto I, which was then called Via Piazza (La Chiazza). For most of the nineteenth century the road was blocked by the small church of Purgatory, which was then demolished at the end of the century. The central point of the street, located in the Mother Church, represents the center of gravity of the town, from which the other main axis starts, which is today's Viale della Vittoria, formerly Strada Chiarenza. Via Veneziano starts in parallel in front of the Doge's Palace.

For most of its history San Baigio's population grew at a steady pace and by 1653 the town had about 300 inhabitants. But in the eighteenth century, the productivity crisis and the old institutional political system led to a decline in the demographic trend. A serious problem was presented by monoculture, which created occasional famine. In the eighteenth century there were three famines. To deal with the problem Agesilao Bonanno, who would later become lord of the land of San Biagio, was appointed vicar for the storage of grain. The decline of the Sicilian noble families did not spare even the lord of San Biagio, who moved to the Villa della Noce in Palermo, with a series of contracts drawn up at the end of the eighteenth century and handed over all possessions to the gabelle. 1812 marks the end of feudalism.

In 1864 the name Platani was added to distinguish this town from other Italian centers with the same toponym.

List of Feudal Rulers

1635 Licentia Populandi
* 1635 Giovanbattista Gerardo
* 1640 Pietro Gianguercio
* 1648 Antonina Gianguercio
* 1649 Cesare Gianguercio
* 1655 Carlo Setaiolo
* 1665 Antonina Gianguercio
* 1666 Diego Ioppolo
1687 Imposition of the Duchy of San Biagio
* 1687 Antonino Giuseppe Ioppolo
* 1690 Pietro Ioppolo Gianguercio
* 1716 Ludovico Ioppolo Spatafora
* 1733 Ludovico Ioppolo Pescatore
* 1769 Agesilao Bonanno Ioppolo
* 1810 Agesilao Gioeni Bonanno
1812 End of feudalism

Like many other villages in rural Sicily the village has experienced large amounts of emigration. Creating both a global community as well creating the problem of depopulation.

The Bread Arches of Easter

Beginning as a devotional of the two largest catholic confraternities of San Biagio, the festival of the "Archi di Pasqua" has become a well known international event. Welcoming thousands of visitors every year. The village has a museum dedicated share the history and process of the Archi di Pasqua.

Twin Cities

The town of San Biagio Platani is twinned with Remchingen, Germany.

It was announced in 2022 that San Biagio Platani will twin with Tampa, Florida.

Demographic evolution

Colors=
id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9)
id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8)
id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1)
id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8)

ImageSize = width:455 height:303
PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30
DateFormat = x.y
Period = from:0 till:6000
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
AlignBars = justify
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:500 start:0
ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:100 start:0
BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo

BarData=
bar:1861 text:1861
bar:1871 text:1871
bar:1881 text:1881
bar:1901 text:1901
bar:1911 text:1911
bar:1921 text:1921
bar:1931 text:1931
bar:1936 text:1936
bar:1951 text:1951
bar:1961 text:1961
bar:1971 text:1971
bar:1981 text:1981
bar:1991 text:1991
bar:2001 text:2001

PlotData=
color:barra width:20 align:left

bar:1861 from: 0 till:2294
bar:1871 from: 0 till:2410
bar:1881 from: 0 till:2795
bar:1901 from: 0 till:3303
bar:1911 from: 0 till:4060
bar:1921 from: 0 till:4193
bar:1931 from: 0 till:4652
bar:1936 from: 0 till:4836
bar:1951 from: 0 till:5036
bar:1961 from: 0 till:5072
bar:1971 from: 0 till:5266
bar:1981 from: 0 till:5513
bar:1991 from: 0 till:4128
bar:2001 from: 0 till:3785

PlotData=

bar:1861 at:2294 fontsize:XS text: 2294 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1871 at:2410 fontsize:XS text: 2410 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1881 at:2795 fontsize:XS text: 2795 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1901 at:3303 fontsize:XS text: 3303 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1911 at:4060 fontsize:XS text: 4060 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1921 at:4193 fontsize:XS text: 4193 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1931 at:4652 fontsize:XS text: 4652 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1936 at:4836 fontsize:XS text: 4836 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1951 at:5036 fontsize:XS text: 5036 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1961 at:5072 fontsize:XS text: 5072 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1971 at:5266 fontsize:XS text: 5266 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1981 at:5513 fontsize:XS text: 5513 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1991 at:4128 fontsize:XS text: 4128 shift:(-8,5)
bar:2001 at:3785 fontsize:XS text: 3785 shift:(-8,5)

TextData=
fontsize:S pos:(20,20)
text:Data from ISTAT

References

External links

www.comunesanbiagioplatani./

{{authority control

Cities and towns in Sicily