Capizzi (

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

: ;

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: Capitium) is a ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' (municipality) in the

Metropolitan City of Messina The Metropolitan City of Messina () is a metropolitan city in Sicily, Italy. Its capital is the city of Messina. It replaced the province of Messina and comprises Messina and 107 other ''comuni'' (: ''comune''). It has 595,948 inhabitants as o ...

in the

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

region

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, located about southeast of

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

and about southwest of

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...

. Capizzi borders the following municipalities:

Caronia Caronia ( Sicilian: ''Carunìa'', Greek: ( Ptol.) or ( Diod. et al.), Latin: ''Calacte'' or ''Cale Acte'') is a town and ''comune'' on the north coast of Sicily, in the province of Messina, about halfway between Tyndaris (modern Tindari) and ...

Cerami Cerami ( Sicilian: ''Cirami'') is a ''comune'' in Sicily, southern Italy, part of the Province of Enna. The town itself is perched on a mountaintop above sea level. A river also named Cerami flows through this area. Cerami produces cereals, ...

Cesarò Cesarò is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the Italy, Italian region Sicily, located about east of Palermo and about southwest of Messina. It is included in the Parco dei Nebrodi. References

C ...

Mistretta Mistretta ( Sicilian: ''Mistritta'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about east of Palermo and about west of Messina. Mistretta borders the following municipalities: Capi ...

History

The origins of Capizzi are unclear, although certainly ancient. Capitium is mentioned by

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

and

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

, and appears from the former to have been a place of some importance. He mentions it in conjunction with Haluntium (modern

San Marco d'Alunzio San Marco d'Alunzio (, Ancient Greek: (Ptolemy, Ptol.) or (Dio Cassius, Dion.), Latin: ''Aluntium'' or ''Haluntium'') is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the Italy, Italian region Sicily, near the north ...

), Enguium (modern Gangi), and other towns in the northern part of the island, and Ptolemy enumerates it among the inland cities of Sicily. Its situation on the southern slope of the mountains of

, about from the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (, ; or ) , , , , is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenians, Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy. Geography The sea is bounded by the islands of C ...

, and the same distance from Gangi (Enguium), accords well with the ancient indications.

, ''in Verr.'' iii. 4. 3; Ptoemy. iii. 4. § 12; Cluverius ''Sicil.''

References

* Roman towns and cities in Italy Ancient cities in Sicily {{Sicily-geo-stub