BLOG PALERMO 10: Day Trip to Corleone

PALERMO: Day trip to Corleone

Tomorrow we'll go to Corleone (day trip) with the Guests. From Palermo we'll take the Palermo Sciacca road and then exit at San Cipirrello.

Corleone...yep...the famous town....the town of the Godfather ;o)

Situated among the rocky hills of the Belice river's upper basin, Corleone once was an Arabian fortress, and it went through the same historical events as the other towns on this side of the island

After the Arab conquest of southern Italy and during the Emirate of Sicily, the town was dominated by Arabs, who gave it the name Qurlayun. The Normans later achieved prominence after the Norman conquest of southern Italy. In 1080 it was conquered by the Normans and in 1095 it was joined to the diocese of Palermo. In the XIII century the emperor Federico II drove the Muslims out

The municipality has 12.000 inhabitants and its area covers 22.912 hectares

The artistic heritage isn't Corleone's only attraction: nature and landscapes in its surroundings are amazing, especially the circle of limestone rocks encompassing the outstanding Montagna Vecchia plateau, the Drago gorges and the Due rocce falls. In the surroundings, the Ficuzza wood is well worth a visit.

Beginning in the 1960s, the town became famous for its Mafia, being the town in which some well-known clans had their headquarters (the Clan dei Corleonesi). Mafiosi born or taking up residence in Corleone have included Michele Navarra, Luciano Liggio, Leoluca Bagarella, Salvatore Riina and Bernardo Provenzano

...but the begining of the Mafia was much earlier... Someone said that the grandfathers of the Mafia were the Beati Paoli (end of 1700)....but anyway the Mafia power growed dramatically at the beginning of the 1900.

The Mafia became strong cause at the beginning "helped" the people to get justice! Yes...Government and Police didn't really help people so... an Anti State took a strong position in Sicily....but of course...If Mafia helped to get the justice...then someday you had to make them a favour...!!! At the same time Sicily started to "export" its criminals to the USA. This beginning of the Mafia in USA was called the "Mano Nera" the "Black Hand" There was a strong cooperation between the Sicilian Mafia and the USA Mafia. When someone was a "problem" for the American Mafia...some "picciotti" (men of honor) from Sicily went to USA...then they killed the "problem" and immediately came back to Sicily...the opposite things when the big "problem" was in Sicily....we'll talk more about Mafia in the Future.

posted by blog.giorgioshouse.com [12/09/2009 13:07]