Prizzi is a town and ''
comune'' of 5,711 inhabitants in the
Italian Metropolitan City of Palermo
The Metropolitan City of Palermo ( it, Città metropolitana di Palermo; scn, Cità metrupulitana di Palermu) is a metropolitan city in Sicily, Italy. Its capital is the city of Palermo. It replaced the Province of Palermo and comprises the city o ...
, on the island of
Sicily. It is located south of the city of
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , 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 ...
at an altitude of 1045 m (3,428 ft) above
sea level on a hill in the upper valley of the River Sosio. Prizzi is surrounded by the ''comuni'' of
Campofelice di Fitalia,
Castronovo di Sicilia,
Lercara Friddi,
Palazzo Adriano
Palazzo Adriano (IPA: , aae, Pallaci, scn, U PalàzzuGasca Queirazza, Giuliano (ed.) (1990). ''Dizionario di toponomastica. Storia e significato dei nomi geografici italiani'', p. 468. UTET. ) is a town and ''comune'' of Arbëresh origin in th ...
,
Vicari, and the city of
Corleone
Corleone (; scn, Cunigghiuni or ) is an Italian town and ''comune'' of roughly 11,158 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, in Sicily.
Several Mafia bosses have come from Corleone, including Tommy Gagliano, Gaetano Reina, Jack Dragn ...
.
History
Traces have been found of a small
Elymian settlement, called
Hippana or Hyppana, dating from the 8th-6th centuries BC on the nearby Montagna dei Cavalli. This settlement was later rebuilt in the 4th century BC, by
Hiero I of Syracuse, and subsequently inhabited by
Carthaginians,
Greeks,
Arabs, and
Romans. Hippana has the highest altitude
Greek theater known in Sicily. The ancient town of
Comiciana was probably nearby. The town of Prizzi is thought to have been constructed by the refugees of a Roman invasion, but it is better documented to have at least pre-existed the Saracen invasion, when it was controlled by the Byzantines prior to the
Arab conquest. The name ''Prizzi'' derives from the Greek ''Pyrizo'', meaning "incendiary" as in the context of sending smoke signals, referring to its origin as an important point for fighting off enemy invaders in Sicily. The present town, of
Norman origin, was a
fief of Guglielmo Bonello. In 1150, it passed to the
Cistercian
The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
Monastery of Sant'Angelo. Between the 13th and 15th centuries, control of the town was disputed by various lords until it finally fell to the Bonanno family, whose fief it was until 1812.
The town is known for its Easter celebration, U Ballu dei Diavoli, or, in Italian, Ballo dei Diavoli.
Ballo dei Diavoli
References
* https://web.archive.org/web/20100522181255/http://www.comune.prizzi.pa.it/paese/tradizioni/pagina_ballo%20diavoli.htm
* :it:Teatro di Hippana
* :it:Prizzi
External links
www.gentracer.com/prizzi.html
Agriturismo e Dintorni - Prizzi
Municipalities of the Metropolitan City of Palermo
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