Capizzi (

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 ...

: ;

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

: Capitium) 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 ...

'' (municipality) in the

Metropolitan City of Messina The Metropolitan City of Messina ( it, Città metropolitana di Messina) is a metropolitan city in Sicily, Italy. Its capital is the city of Messina. It replaced the Province of Messina and comprises the city of Messina and other 107 municipali ...

in the Italian region

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

, located about southeast of

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

and about southwest of

Messina Messina (, also , ) 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 more than 219,000 in ...

. Capizzi borders the following municipalities: Caronia, Cerami,

Cesarò Cesarò is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about east of Palermo and about southwest of Messina. It is included in the Parco dei Nebrodi Parco can refer to: * Parco, Tib ...

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 Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the cap ...

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, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the est ...

and

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of import ...

, 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 ( scn, San Marcu, Ancient Greek: ( Ptol.) or ( Dion.), Latin: ''Aluntium'' or ''Haluntium'') is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, near the north coast of t ...

), 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 Caronia, about from the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...

, 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