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Alcamo

Alcamo (Àrcamu,, or Àlcamu) is the fourth-largest town and commune of the Province of Trapani, Sicily, with a population of 44.925 inhabitants. It is on the borderline with the Metropolitan City of Palermo at a distance of about 50 kilometres from Palermo and Trapani.

Nowadays the town territory includes an area of 130,79 square kilometres and is the second municipality as for population density in the province of Trapani, after Erice.

Alcamo is bounded by the Tyrrhenian Sea on the north, Balestrate and Partinico on the east, Camporeale on the south and Calatafimi-Segesta and Castellammare del Golfo on the west. Its most important hamlet is Alcamo Marina at about 6 kilometres from the town centre. Together with other municipalities it takes part in the Associazione Città del Vino, the movement Patto dei Sindaci, Progetto Città dei Bambini, Rete dei Comuni Solidali and Patto Territoriale Golfo di Castellammare.

Territory
Alcamo is situated in the middle of the Gulf of Castellammare, at 258 metres above the sea level and at the foot of Mount Bonifato, a calcareous complex 825 metres high. At the altitude of 500 metres (near the "Funtanazza") there is the Nature Reserve of Monte Bonifato.

The territory of Alcamo also includes Alcamo Marina, mainly used as a summer resort.

Climate
The climate is mild, with higher rainfall during winter than summer.

The average annual temperature is 16.9 °C, with higher temperatures in August (24.8 °C) and lower temperatures in February (10.3 °C).

The average annual rainfall is 558 mm. Rainfall is particularly scarcer in July (4 mm) and more abundant in December (83 mm).

 * Seismic classification: zone 2 (medium-high seismicity), Ordinance PCM 3274 (20 March 2003)
 * Climatic classification: zone B, 1140 degree day
 * Köppen climatic classification: CSa
 * Atmospheric diffusivity: low, Ibimet CNR 2002

Etymology
There are discordances about the etymology of the toponym "Alcamo". According to some scholars, the name Alcamo would derive from caccamu, a dialectal word referring to the plant Citrullus colocynthis.

Prehistory
Though there is little information about it, there are evidences that territory of Alcamo was inhabited even in prehistoric times; in one of the most ancient sites, near "contrada" Molinello (a country district), they discovered archaeological findings dating back to the Mesolithic, approximately 9,000–6,000 BC and other very old ones dating back to the Neolithic during the archaeological excavations done by the archaeologist Paolo Orsi (1899) and the marquis Antonio De Gregorio (1917) near the river Fiume Freddo. One of the most important finds is an axe from the Neolithic, kept at the Museo archeologico regionale Paolo Orsi of Syracuse.

Longuro and Longarico
From the quotations by Lycophron we know that in old times there was an inhabited centre called "Longuro" on Mount Bonifato. According to an old story, this settlement was founded by a Greek colony which had escaped from the destruction of the town of Troy.

During the Roman period the inhabitants of Longuro moved to the foot of the mountain so they could practice agriculture in the surrounding lands. The town was called Longaricum; this name appears in the Itinerario di Antonino Pio (=Itinerary of Antoninus Pius, in the 3rd century AD) and would coincide with the Latin name of Longuro.

According to a supposition the two hillocks appearing on the gonfalon of Alcamo would represent both the towns of Longaricum and Longuro.

Origins
The first document mentioning Alcamo is dating back to 1154, in a paper written by the Berber geographer Idrisi who was given this task by Roger II of Sicily in order to get a collection of geographic maps. From a distance longer than a mile, the writer describes the position of Alcamo viewed from the Castle of Calatubo (visible even today from the town territory) and defines it as a hamlet or a group of houses with rich soil and a flourishing market.

Medieval age

Alcamo was divided into four hamlets named San Vito, San Leonardo, Sant'Ippolito and San Nicolò del Vauso. but a series of revolts between 1221 and 1243 led King Frederick II to move most of the population to a colony at Lucera, while Christians from Bonifato came to inhabit the town. In this period the poet Ciullo or Cielo d'Alcamo was born.

In 1340 Raimondo Peralta acquired the feud and barony of Alcamo from Peter II of Aragon. Then the barony passed to his son Guglielmo Peralta Sclafani, called "Guglielmone". and afterwards to the Ventimiglia family (up to 1397), Giaimo de Prades (1407), the Cabrera family, the Speciale family, Pietro Balsamo prince of Roccafiorita (1618) and finally to Giuseppe Alvarez (1777).

In the 14th century Alcamo had several thousands of inhabitants and hundreds of them had immigrated from different parts of Sicily and Italy (in particular: Pisa, Amalfi, Bologna, Calabria, Liguria), and some also from Spain. During this period, Antonello da Messina moved to Alcamo for three years (around 1438–1441) in order to learn the tanning techniques from the tanner master Guglielmo Adragna di Alcamo, in fact the town was an important pole of development for commerce and handicraft. In particular, it had a massive exchange of wheat and wine with the nearby towns and there were also expert artisans such as bakers, blacksmiths, tanners and weavers. During this century Alcamo was an important centre for wheat storage and sorting. In the same period the writer Giacomo Adragna transcribed the Commentarii in Persium and Pietro d'Alcamo many works from the library of San Martino.

Modern age
At about the year 1500, Alcamo was under the jurisdiction of the captain of justice Ferdinando Vega, who fought against the raiding Turkish pirates. The town was surrounded by defensive embattled walls provided with four gates:
 * Porta Palermo (afterwards called Porta Saccari), at the end of the present via Rossotti;
 * Porta Corleone, at the end of the present via Commendatore Navarra;
 * Porta di Gesù, opposite the church of Saint Mary of Jesus, next to the Franciscan friary;
 * Porta Trapani (later called Porta del Collegio), at the beginning of via Commendatore Navarra.

During this period, the town was divided into four-quarters, each one associated with the name of the main church in that area: The division between these quarters was coincident with the main streets of the town, that are the present Corso 6 Aprile and Via Rossotti and its continuation via dei Baroni Emanuele di San Giuseppe (called incorrectly "Via Barone di San Giuseppe" ).
 * San Giacomo de la Spada
 * San Calogero
 * San Francesco d'Assisi (or "Terra nuova" )
 * Maggiore Chiesa.

In 1535, in coincidence with the visit of the emperor Charles V, coming back from Tunisia, the old Porta Trapani was closed and four gates were opened:
 * new Porta Trapani, near the beginning of the present Corso 6 Aprile (that was called "Corso Imperiale");
 * new Porta Palermo (initially called Porta San Francesco), at the end of today's Corso 6 Aprile;
 * Porta Stella, at the corner between Via Stella and Piazza Ciullo; this name derives from the name of the ''Church of Our Lady of the Star (in Italian "Madonna della Stella"), near there;
 * Porta Nuova, between the present Discesa al Santuario and Piazza della Libertà.

During the 16th century there was a development in education in Alcamo because of the construction of new schools and the activity of expert teachers, in particular the poet and scholar Sebastiano Bagolino (1562–1604). In 1547 the Madonna appeared to some women of the people and an image of Madonna Fons Misericordiae was discovered and worshipped as "Our Lady of Miracles".

In the late 16th century, the population was decimated by an infectious disease. and the victims were buried in the cemetery of Saint Ippolito.

In 1667 Mariano Ballo ordered the construction of a theatre, called "teatro Ferrigno", later demolished and rebuilt during the 1960s; after the reconstruction it was first called "cine-teatro Euro" and later "Teatro Cielo d'Alcamo".

During the 18th century, pestilence and popular rebellions occurred in Alcamo again. On the other hand, this age was important for art because of the construction of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption (1699), designed by the architects Angelo Italia and Giuseppe Diamante. Its interior was also decorated with 38 frescoes made by the Flemish painter Guglielmo Borremans between 1736 and 1737. In the same period the Church of Saint Olivia was renovated, Saint Paul and Bartholomew's Church was rebuilt (1689), and the Church of the Holy Crucifix (or saint Francis of Paola) was completed (1699) together with the monumental church of College some decades later(1767).

The population of the town, gradually recovered from the pestilence and increased to 13,000 in 1798.

Contemporary age
At the beginning of the 19th century Alcamo's feudal status was abolished (1812) and the town became a direct royal possession.

The archpriests Stefano Triolo Galifi and Giuseppe Virgilio, together with the baron Felice Pastore were members of the Sicilian Parliament as representatives of Alcamo. In 1820, during a revolt, there were different murders, sacks, release of criminals from prison and a fire in the municipal archives. and in 1829 many people died of cholera. In 1843 the construction of the present Town Hall started, on a land of the baron Felice Pastore.

On 6 April 1860, Stefano and Giuseppe Triolo let the Italian Tricolour wave on the town hall, creating groups of volunteers in order to help Giuseppe Garibaldi in the battle of Calatafimi and from Alcamo some dictatorial edicts on Victor Emmanuel II's behalf were issued. Some time later Francesco Crispi prepared the Constitution for the lands set free. Further to this event, Corso Imperiale was named Corso 6 Aprile, in memory of 6 April, in which the volunteers started to be enlisted in Alcamo.

During the Unification of Italy the brothers Triolo of Sant'Anna and Giuseppe Coppola of Monte San Giuliano enlisted many citizens to fight with the Garibaldians in 1860.

At the end of the 19th century, in 1897, public lighting was inaugurated in Alcamo during the traditional feast of Our Lady of Miracles. Among the most important people of this period we have to remind Don Giuseppe Rizzo, a priest who founded the bank called "Cassa Rurale e Artigiana Don Rizzo" (1902).

At the beginning of the 20th century (1901–1911) the number of citizens in Alcamo diminished abruptly, partially because of the emigration of 36,718 Sicilians abroad and in particular to the United States, but it is possible that the statistics about this year and the previous years were not reliable because the census was carried out without following certain criteria. In the same period the cultivations in the territory of Alcamo were affected by phylloxera and two banks ("Cooperativa" and "Segestana") went bankrupt with subsequent economic difficulties for its citizens.

There were also some events linked to the Mafia, such as the murder of Gaspare Cottone, a carter (1899) and the death of the 19-years-old Benedetto Guastella during a fire conflict with carabinieri in 1900. As the Mafia had taken power in the districts of Trapani and Alcamo, the commissary Cesare Mori intervened with a series of arrests and charges against the material executors of the crimes occurred in the area and finally they arrested Vincenzo and Michele Tedesco, brothers, and Baldassare Adragna, considered the heads of the gangs in Trapani's territory.

During the First World War, four hundred citizens from Alcamo died and the following period was characterized by poverty because of monetary inflation and banditry. In 1918 about five hundred people died because of Spanish flu and in the Second World War 213 citizens from Alcamo died or were lost. In 1927, Vincenzo Giovenco (1879-1954) operated and opened the first cinema in Alcamo, 'Cinema Marconi'. It subsequently closed less than ten years after opening, due to a fire

The foundation of Società Elettrotecnica Palermitana, whose name was changed into Società Generale Electrica della Sicilia (SGES) and which installed an important electric workroom in the district of Saint Augustine in Alcamo, dates back to the twenties. The jobs inside this firm were very longed-for because it was the only firm in Trapani Province which had a Health insurance fund and granted holidays. The electric workroom existed until 1963, when it was acquired by Enel and demolished. During the years in which SGES operated, there was an improvement of the electric services in Alcamo's territory, owing also to the realization of several artificial lakes.

During Fascism, the citizens asked the government to appoint Alcamo as the capital of the province (1930), but this request was not satisfied. On 19 August 1937 the fascist leader Benito Mussolini visited the town, crossing Corso 6 Aprile by an open car and parading through the crowd of his supporters. The visit was due to the inauguration of the railway line between Trapani and Alcamo, completed in the same year. Some weeks later, prince Umberto visited Alcamo too.

On 21 July 1943 the American troops entered Alcamo without any opposition, freeing the town from Italian Fascism. On 18 December 1944, because of the economic and social discomfort, the citizens raised up, occupied the Town Hall and put its archives on fire. Since 1960 the town planning system has been greatly expanding, particularly at the foot of Mount Bonifato with the construction of Viale Europa, which is one of the most important street in Alcamo.

At about the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s there was a bloody Mafia war between the clan Greco (related to the Rimi family) and the members of the emergent Mafia of Corleone, led by the boss Vincenzo Milazzo in the territory of Alcamo. Vincenzo Milazzo received orders from Totò Riina to eliminate members of the old Mafia (in particular the member of the clan Greco) and put in command only his trusted men. Just for this reason the Greco family represented an obstacle: the cause which roused the conflict was the approaching of some members of Cosa Nostra to the rival clan of Grecos. The war bathed the town in blood for about five years and provoked tens of victims. The new Corleone's Mafia prevailed, but the cost to be paid was very high, because a lot of members of this clan died. During the same period, in which there were armed clashes between the Mafia families, at contrada Virgini in Alcamo, they discovered the biggest heroin refinery in Sicily. (1985) Tens of people died in five years, and at the end the Mafia of Corleone prevailed.

While the crimes of the Mafia went on and tens of people disappeared as victims of "lupara bianca", there was a religious revival which led to the birth of several Catholic associations such as Rinnovamento nello Spirito Santo, Neocatechumenal Way and the movement of Comunione e Liberazione. From the last one the parish community of the Church of Jesus Christ the Redeemer originated in the district of Sant'Anna (2006). This religious revival was followed by a new interest into the town's old traditions, mentioned in the works of Roberto Calia and Carlo Cataldo, historians from Alcamo. Carlo Cataldo has also been prized several times both for his historical works and for his dialectal poems which tell Alcamo's folklore. In the 21st century there was a renovation of Alcamo's architectural context, thanks to the restoration of some important historical buildings such as the Castle of the Counts of Modica, the Theatre Cielo d'Alcamo, the Cine-Theatre Marconi, the Ex Jesuits' College, the Cuba delle rose (in 2013), the church of College (in 2014), the façade of Badia Nuova (in 2014) and the old Arab fountain (in 2016). Thanks also to the intervention of Fondo Ambiente Italiano, it is expected the restoration of the Castle of Calatubo; its chapel and the path leading to the castle have already been cleaned by the volunteers' association "Salviamo il Castello di Calatubo" (in 2015).

Among the works of revaluation of the urban areas there are the restoration of Piazza Ciullo by the architect Gae Aulenti (1996) and the realization of an underground car park in Piazza Bagolino, together with the creation of the near suburban park San Francesco. The interest in environment is also associated with that in the territory, in fact, after the adhesion to the initiative "Rifiuti Zero" (Zero Rubbish), Alcamo has been considered an example to be followed for the results got between 2010 and 2013 in the field of waste sorting (raccolta differenziata).

Coat of arms
The Coat of arms of Alcamo used since the kingdom of Frederick II of Swabia is a black flying Eagle, crowned by Gold in a Silver range, with three hills below and two Golden Oaks.

A sculpture of the coat of arms is put on a side wall of the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, near Porta Palermo.

Civil buildings
There are several historical civil buildings in Alcamo:
 * House of Ciullo d'Alcamo (3, Piazzetta Leopardi, near the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi (Alcamo)
 * Palazzo De Ballis (in Via Mariano de Ballis): built in the 16th century, with a square tower with battlements, adorned with a round arch that contains two windows, a double lancet and one triple lancet; it was probably designed in 1490 by Tommaso and Pietro Oddo
 * Ex Loggia Comunale (1500): built after the design of the architect Domenico Vitale, it has a base made with travertine and the upper part in calcarenite. It was used as a loggia from 1525 to 1767; It is located at the corner between Corso 6 Aprile and via Barone di San Giuseppe.
 * Palazzo Aversa (in via Porta Stella n°48): it has balconies in carved stone and the coat of arms, with a red lion looking at a red comet.
 * Palazzo D'Angelo (between corso 6 Aprile and via Fratelli sant'Anna), built in 1768
 * Palazzo D'Angelo (Piazza Ciullo n°12): 19th century
 * Palazzo De Stefani (via Commendatore Navarra, opposite to Badia Nuova): in Liberty style, was built in the 19th century.
 * Palazzo Diana (or Termine): it is located at the corner between via Ignazio de Blasi and Corso 6 Aprile; there are two small columns at the corner, one double lancet window in via De Blasi, with the Diana's coat of arms and a cornice similar to Gothic style above the door
 * Palazzo Di Gregorio (in via Dante): built in about the 17th century;
 * Palazzo Ferrando-Mistretta (between via Diaz and via Sant'Oliva)
 * Palazzo Ferrara (at the corner of via Francesco Crispi and via Ruggero Settimo): in classical style, built in 1909;
 * Palazzo Fraccia (in via 11 Febbraio): in Baroque style, built in 1700 by the baron Agostino Fraccia;
 * Palazzo Guarrasi (via 15 Maggio n°15): built in the early 18th century
 * Palazzo Mistretta Galati, earlier palazzo Fraccia (between Piazza Bagolino and corso 6 Aprile): in Liberty style
 * Palazzo Morfino (via Giuseppe Fazio n°17) built in the 18th century
 * Palazzo Palmerini: at the corner of via Madonna dell'Alto and via Buonarroti
 * Palazzo Pastore (in Corso 6 Aprile, near Piazza Ciullo): in neoclassic style, built at the end of the 18th century; Some elements of the façade are similar to those of Basilica and Palazzo Di Gregorio in via Dante.
 * Palazzo Patti (Piazza Ciullo n°24): built in the 18th century;
 * Palazzo Peria (corso 6 Aprile n°102, opposite Centro Congressi Marconi): built in 1700, it has two floors, restored with the system Livigny; in 1806 it was the seat of the municipality
 * Palazzo Pia Opera Pastore, designed by the architect Giovan Battista Palazzotto in 1872;
 * Palazzo Polizzi (between corso 6 Aprile and Via Don Rizzo)
 * Palazzo Quattrocchi (built in the 18th century), at via 15 Maggio n°47
 * Palazzo Rocca, in Corso 6 Aprile: built in 1629. Inside it there is a garden.
 * Palazzo Rossotti-Chiarelli (in via Rossotti): in baroque style, built in the 18th century; it has an artistic main door and some magnificent balconies with iron railings
 * Palazzo Speciale (in corso 6 Aprile n°51, at the corner with via Mariano de Ballis): built at the end of the 18th centuries; its balconies have wrought iron railings.
 * Palazzo Triolo (between Corso 6 Aprile and via Fratelli Sant'Anna): built at the end of the 18th century, it belonged to the barons of Sant'Anna
 * Palazzo Velez (in Via Buonarroti, behind the Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption): built between 1600 and 1700, it has an internal garden.
 * Palazzo Virgilio (between Corso 6 Aprile and via Stefano Polizzi): built at the end of the 18th century
 * Town Hall (in Piazza Ciullo): in Neoclassic style, built in 1843;
 * Villa Luisa (between via Madonna Alto Mare, via Rossotti and via Federico II): built in 1903 in Liberty style with a Moorish trend, after a project of the architect Francesco Naselli.

14th century

 * The Church of our Lady of the Star (Chiesa di Santa Maria della Stella) which is abandoned now, was the first Mother Church of Alcamo since 1313. It was located in the old district of San Vito and inside it there was the painting of Our Lady of Honey (Madonna del Miele) dated 1300 and later moved into the Saints Paul and Bartholomew's Church: they believe this painting is the oldest one in Alcamo.
 * Ex Church of Saint James of the Sword (Ex Chiesa di San Giacomo de Spada): built before 1529, it was enlarged between 1625 and 1636.

15th century

 * Church of Saint Thomas (Chiesa di San Tommaso): the date of its construction is uncertain, probably the first half of the 15th century. It is faced by a great portal with geometrical decorations.
 * Church of Saint Mary of Jesus (Chiesa di Santa Maria di Gesù): built in the 15th century and enlarged in 1762. It holds the body of the Blessed Arcangelo Placenza from Calatafimi.
 * ex Church of saint Maria del Soccorso (Ex Church of Our Lady of Rescue): built in the 15th century.
 * Church of saint Vito (Chiesa di San Vito): it gave the name to the ancient district of San Vito and to the street where it is located. It was already existing in 1492 and, according to Ignazio de Blasi (a historian from Alcamo), it was founded by a member of the Confraternity of the Annunciation, together with a hospital for poor people next to it. It was restored in 1922 and some decades ago; there is nothing old in it and today is used by Eastern Orthodox Church Christians for their rites.
 * Church of the Holy Spirit: quoted in a deed dated 1491, as it is affirmed by the historian Ignazio De Blasi. It is located next to the first cemetery, on the North side.

16th century

 * Church of the Holy Saviour (Alcamo) (Chiesa del Santissimo Salvatore or "Badia Grande") is very important from the artistic point of view; it was built in the 14th century baroque style and rebuilt around the middle of the 15th century and between 1690 and 1697. Inside it there are pictures by Novelli dating back to the mid of the 17th century.
 * Church of Saint Olivia (Chiesa di Sant'Oliva) was built in 1533 and renovated in 1724. ) Inside there are a picture by Pietro Novelli on the main altar ("Sacrificio della Messa" dated 1639) and works by the Gagini.
 * Sanctuary of Madonna of Miracles (Santuario di Maria Santissima dei Miracoli): built in 1547.
 * Church of the Holy Crucifix (or saint Francis of Paola), (Chiesa del Santissimo Crocifisso): built in 1550. Now it is the parish of Saint Francis of Paola
 * Church of the Annunciation (Chiesa dell'Annunziata o del Carmine): built in the 14th century, it was rebuilt in 16th and 17th centuries but collapsed in 1866.
 * ex Church of Saint Nicholas from Bari (Ex Chiesa di San Nicolò di Bari): built in 1430, demolished and rebuilt in 1558.
 * Church of saint Augustine (Alcamo) (1589)

17th century

 * Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption was realized during the 14th century and rebuilt in 1669; the present façade was realized in 1786; the portal and the bell tower are the only remains from the original church of the 14th century. It is located in the centre of the town, near piazza Ciullo. The interior is tripartite and contains frescoes by Guglielmo Borremans. In the apse and side chapels there are works by Antonello Gagini, called "Madonna with the Saints Philip and James", the "Crucifix" and the "Transit of the Virgin". There are also other works made by his apprentices. In a chapel there is also "The Holy Thorn". In 2010 the Sacred Art Museum was opened: it contains many works from other churches. On the right, in the first chapel, there is also a modern architectural work dedicated to Don Rizzo (founder of the homonymous bank), designed by the architect Paolo Portoghesi.
 * Church of Saint Francis from Assisi (Chiesa di San Francesco d'Assisi): built between the years 1224–1226, demolished and rebuilt between 1608 and 1648. Inside it there are a marble ancon, probably by Domenico Gagini, and two sculptures reproducing the Maddalena and Saint Mark, both ascribed to Antonello Gagini.
 * Church of Saints Paul and Bartholomew (Chiesa dei Santissimi Paolo e Bartolomeo) built between 1615 and 1689, has got characteristic baroque features and holds a very ancient and valuable picture, the Madonna del Miele (made about the year 1300).
 * Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Church of Our Lady of Graces) : built in 1619 and enlarged between 1626 and 1636
 * Church of Saint Anne (Chiesa di Sant'Anna (1630–1634) )
 * Church of Saint Peter (Ex Chiesa di San Pietro): Via Barone di san Giuseppe, 19. It was built in 1367 and reconstructed in the years 1645–1649, then enlarged in 1742 after the design of Giovanni Biagio Amico, an architect. The artistic portal(1649) is on the main door.); the roof fell down because of the 1968 Belice earthquake.
 * Church of the saint Guardian Angel or Sheltered People (Chiesa del S.Angelo Custode or Chiesa delle Riparate, 1647 )
 * Church of the Holy Family, built in the 16th century; in Piazza Ciullo
 * ex Collegio dei Gesuiti (Ex Collegio dei Gesuiti): built in the 17th century, in the 18th century they added an arcade.
 * Church of the College of Jesuits or Church of Jesus (Chiesa del Collegio dei Gesuiti or Chiesa del Gesù): built between 1684 and 1767.
 * Church of Our Lady with a Chain (Chiesa Maria della Catena): Built in 1661 it hosts a portrait of Our Lady with a Chain, ascribed to Giuseppe Renda (18th century).
 * Ex Church of Saint Catherine of Monte di Pietà (Ex Chiesa di Santa Caterina del Monte di Pietà): in corso 6 Aprile, at the corner of Via Barone di San Giuseppe. Its façade, with a simple portal, was made in 1608 and the painting of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (1621), realized by Giuseppe Carrera or Giacomo Lo Verde, is now kept at the Sacred Art Museum.

18th century

 * Saints Cosma and Damiano's Church (Chiesa dei Santi Cosma e Damiano or Santa Chiara): built in 1500 and rebuilt between 1721 and 1725 ). It has a baroque style and inside it there are two sculptures by Serpotta.
 * Badia Nuova or (Monastero di San Francesco di Paola'), not to be confused with the homonymous Church) was built in 1531, demolished in 1699 and rebuilt in the first half of the 18th century. There are a picture by Pietro Novelli and some allegorical representations by Giacomo Serpotta.
 * Church of the Most Holy Trinity (Chiesa della Santissima Trinità): 1746–1757
 * Ex Church of Ecce Homo (Ex Chiesa dell'Ecce Homo, 1750)
 * Church of Our Lady of the Rosary (Chiesa di Santa Maria del Rosario): built in 1660 and reconstructed in 1761.

20th–21st centuries

 * Sanctuary of Most Holy Mary of the Height (Santuario di Maria Santissima dell'Alto): built in 929 and reconstructed in the 20th century.
 * Sanctuary of Maria Santissima del Fiume, on the Trunk Road 113 (strada Statale 113), just after the Autostrada A29 junction Alcamo Ovest. Built in the 1920s, it is frequented by believers in May.
 * The small Church of the Most Holy Saviour: already known in 1379, lately restored in 1942: Its façade was rebuilt in gothic style
 * The small Church of Madonna del Riposo: built in 1656 and restored in 1939, it is located at the end of the homonymous street.
 * Church of Saint Joseph the Worker (Chiesa di San Giuseppe Lavoratore), built in 1947.
 * Church of the Holy Souls in Purgatory (Chiesa delle Anime Sante del Purgatorio): built in 1813, demolished and rebuilt in 1958 )
 * Church of the Holy Heart (Alcamo) (Chiesa del Sacro Cuore): built in 1967 )
 * Church of Jesus Christ the Redeemer (Chiesa Gesù Cristo Redentore): built in 2006.
 * Church of Madonna of the Good Thief

Military buildings
Military buildings in Alcamo include:
 * The Castle of the Counts of Modica (or "Castle of Alcamo"): probably built in the 14th or 15th century by the Peralta family and then completed by the feudatories Enrico and Federico Chiaromonte. In 1535 the emperor Charles V lodged there. It was a possession of the Cabreras and then of the Counts of Modica, until 1812. Later, during the Reign of Italy and until 1960, it was used as a prison. It has a rhomboidal shape, with four towers: two quadrangular at the corners and the other two are connected by curtains and are cylindrical. In each tower there were a torture room for prisoners, rooms for sentinels and for passing guest sovereigns. One of the particular characteristics of the castle is given by the thick walls which bound it and that in old times defended it from the enemies' attacks extremely well.
 * Castle of Ventimiglia: situated on the top of Mount Bonifato. It is a medieval castle and today there are only some parts of the walls, the primary tower and the dungeons. It took the name from Enrico Ventimiglia, who declared he had built it just for defence, though according to some interpretations, it would date back to a previous period.
 * The Calatubo Castle, outside the town but inside its territory and on the road leading to Palermo, is a fortress built in the early Middle Ages. The homonymous village of Calatubo stood nearby and its commerce was based on the exportation of cereals and millstones. In the same place there is an old necropolis dating back to the 6th century BC.
 * The watchtower located in the town centre, in Corso 6 Aprile, next to the Church of Saint Maria del Soccorso, opposite the Mother Church. Its construction dates back to 980 A.D. and is the oldest architectural work existing in Alcamo, in perfect preservation conditions. Later the tower was bought by the diocese (1400) and used as a bell tower for the near Mother Church which, at the time, didn't have one. They put then two bells on its top, the remaining one is on the west, while the smaller one on the north side was dismounted at about 1950 for safety reasons. Inside the building you can see a stone winding staircase with 84 steps, 50 of them are original ones.

Archaeological sites
In the territory of Alcamo there are several and interesting archaeological sites:

 * The ruins on Mount Bonifato include Funtanazza (probably used as a water reservoir), Porta Regina, the Castle of Ventimiglia, the snowfields and the remains of the ancient village of Bonifato;
 * The ruins in the area of Calatubo, which include the Castle of Calatubo, the necropolis near it and the ruins of the surrounding village.
 * The Cuba delle Rose, an ancien Arab cistern near the Castle of Calatubo
 * The ruins of the ancient Roman furnaces at Alcamo Marina, used to produce tiles and bricks;
 * The archaeological site in Contrada Mulinello, where they have discovered finds dating back to the Mesolithic period;
 * The area near Fiume Freddo where archaeological finds from the Neolithic have been found.
 * The Geosite Travertino della Cava Cappuccini dating back to Pleistocene: they discovered here the fossilized shell of a turtle, Geochelone sp, the Skeleton of a dwarf elephant, dating back to 260,000 years ago, and two specimens of the giant edible dormouse, red deer, and wild boar, kept at the Civic Museum of Ligny Tower of Trapani

Natural areas
Among the areas of naturalistic interest near Alcamo there are the beaches of Alcamo Marina, the Nature Reserve Bosco di Alcamo on Mount Bonifato and the Segestan thermal baths. The hot springs are produced by the reclimbing of water of meteoric origin which meets the water of Fiume Caldo. They are seven kilometres far from Alcamo and next to the boundary with the territory of Castellammare del Golfo, a small town which shares this naturalistic attraction with Alcamo. According to the narration given by Diodorus Siculus, they were created by the nymphs to favour Eracle's rest during his trip from Piloro to Erice.

Hinterland
The surrounding areas include interesting touristic and historical locations like Segesta and Gibellina. The old fishing village of Scopello, 20 km from Alcamo, has been referred to as having a remarkable seaside. Another small town considered worth visiting is Castellammare del Golfo which is between these two places.

Ethnic groups and foreign minorities
According to the ISTAT data of 1 January 2013, the foreign people resident in Alcamo were 1,258 people corresponding to the 2.58% of the residing population. The most represented nationalities, according to the percentage on the total residing population, were:

 * 🇷🇴 727 (1.62%)
 * 🇲🇦 155 (0.34%)
 * 🇹🇳 118 (0.26%)
 * 🇦🇱 60 (0.13%)
 * 🇨🇳 31 (0.07%)
 * 🇵🇱 22 (0.05%)
 * 🇷🇸 15 (0.03%)

Culture

The poet Cielo d'Alcamo (known also as "Ciullo d'Alcamo") was the author of the contrasto "Rosa fresca aulentissima". He wrote in vernacular in the 12th century and was from Alcamo. Many important places of the town, such as the main square, the theatre and the Classical Lyceum founded in 1862, have been named after the famous poet. From the cultural point of view, in the following centuries Alcamo saw the rise of activities connected with arts such as the construction of churches and buildings, first in the baroque and then Renaissance style, with the coming of several artists of international level: painters (like Guglielmo Borremans and the very talented Pietro Novelli from Monreale), sculptors (Antonello Gagini and Giacomo Serpotta) and other various artists who embellished the town's image.

Inside the Castle of the Counts of Modica there is a puppet theatre: it has born again thanks to the engagement of Salvatore Oliveri, the grandson of the puppet master Gaspare Canino, who worked in Alcamo for about 50 years, continuing the work of Luigi, his father. They often give performances inside the castles or in the square.

It is also noteworthy the activity of Compagnia Piccolo Teatro, a theatre company founded in 1976, which has seen the rise (and success) of some actors and theatre directors.

During the feasts in Alcamo there are often streets entertainers and pedlars selling sweets, dried fruit and different objects in their stands called "baracchelle".

Museums
Inside Alcamo churches there are several artistic works. Apart from foreign artists, there were painters Giuseppe Renda and Gino Patti; among the living artists Turi Simeti, Vito Bongiorno and Gisella Giovenco; sculptors were Giuseppe Bambina, Pietro Montana and Nicola Rubino.
 * Museum of Contemporary Art, located inside the Ex Jesuits' College in Piazza Ciullo.
 * Museum of Multiethnic Musical Instruments "Fausto Cannone": it is located inside the Ex Church of Saint James of the Sword near the Castle of the Counts of Modica and Piazza della Repubblica. It hosts a collection of 202 multiethnic instruments (collected by Professor Fausto Cannone in different parts of the world) such as: rebab, sarinda, gansira, swarpeti, bansuri, takita, marambao, vojnica e iakir.
 * Sacred Art Museum: inside the Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption There are many paintings, sculptures and other works coming from the town churches, dating from the 13th century to the 20th.
 * Monument to Cielo d'Alcamo: the work, realized by the sculptor Mariano Cassarà, is a faithful representation of the scene of the famous Contrasto entitled "Rosa fresca aulentissima", written in 1240 by Cielo d'Alcamo, the first Italian poet who made use of lingua volgare. The two bronze statues represent the poet and his beloved; it is completed by the artistic fountain made with Travertine, and the coat of arms of Alcamo.
 * Regional Vinotek of Western Sicily: located inside the Castle of the Counts of Modica.

Media
There is a local radio, Radio Alcamo Centrale, which operates in the territory since 1976.

The oldest periodical in Alcamo is "Il Bonifato".

The networks in Alcamo are Alpa Uno (since 1976) and Video Sicilia (since 1987).

Music
There are various musical associations in Alcamo:
 * the Premiato Complesso Bandistico "Città di Alcamo", which is the oldest band in the province of Trapani, was founded in 1880 . In the first years it was led by the baron Giuseppe Triolo di Sant'Anna. In 1892, during a contest with the other Sicilian musical bands (and under the direction of the Maestro Raffaele Caravaglios), it won the honour Diploma and the golden Medal, that is why it is named premiato(=prized).
 * The Brass Group, has been the promoter of the "Summertime Blues Festival", which was held for various consecutive years in Piazza Ciullo and where blues singers and musicians from different parts of the world took part.
 * The Associazione Amici della Musica (Association of Friends of Music), founded in 1986, organizes an annual season of classical and contemporary music concerts held in Alcamo and surrounding localities. Since 1998 it has run an annual singing competition open to young opera singers of all nationalities. In 2001 the association also established the international cultural prize known as "Vissi d'Arte-Città di Alcamo". An annual prize, the "Vissi d'Arte" is awarded to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to art and society.
 * The Associazione Jacopone da Todi, is a chorus founded in 1989: it has the objective of spreading the knowledge of holy art, in its different expressions; the director is Gaetano Stellino, a school teacher.
 * The Coro Mater Dei is a musical association born in 1998 and made up of about 30 members; it has held various concerts (especially during the Christmas holidays) in Alcamo and in the province of Trapani. The chorus master is Baldo Barone.
 * The Coro Francesca Adragna was founded in 2008 under the direction of the chorus master Maria Messana. It has a very varied repertory: arias from operettas, opera melodies, church music, Sicilian popular tunes and Neapolitan songs.

Dance
There are different school dances in Alcamo, such as:
 * Whisky a Gogò: it has organized for 20 years the Concorso Nazionale coreografico Danzalcamo: Sara Renda, the ètoile at the Opéra National de Bordeaux, started his career as a dancer in this school.

Religious traditions and folklore

 * 19 March: celebration in honour of Saint Joseph (novena and procession)
 * Good Friday: procession of the Dead Jesus and Our Lady of Sorrow.
 * First Sunday after Easter: Feast of Jesus Christ the Redeemer (cultural and religious event).
 * Second Sunday after Easter: celebration in honour of Saint Francis of Paola (cultural and religious event).
 * Third Sunday after Easter: Feast of Patrocinio in honour of the Holy Family (procession and lunch with the Holy Family).
 * 1 May: celebration in honour of Saint Joseph the Worker (novena and procession)
 * 13 June: celebration in honour of Saint Anthony of Padua (novena and procession)
 * 19–21 June: Celebration in honour of Maria Santissima dei Miracoli (Saint Mary of Miracles, the patron saint of Alcamo): cultural and religious events. During the feast there are a solemn procession of the Madonna's simulacrum, fireworks from the "bastione" in Piazza Bagolino and the descent of civil and political authorities to the Sanctuary of Madonna of Miracles. In the past (until 8–10 years ago) there were horse races along Corso 6 Aprile; the last two times they took place in Viale Italia.
 * End of July: Saint Anne's feast with novena, procession and cultural-recreational activities.
 * 8 September (Nativity of Mary): celebrations at the Sanctuary of Most Holy Mary of the Height (Madonna dell'Alto) on the top of Mount Bonifato with dialect poems recitation and procession.
 * 7–8 December: celebration in honour of Immacolata Concezione (the Immaculate Conception): novena, pastoral melodies and procession.
 * Alcamo Christmas (concerts, outdoor performances, preparation of traditional Christmas cribs and pipers' passing).

Recreational activities

 * July–August: Alcamo Estate ("sagras" or festivals, "Calici di Stelle", "Blues Festival", "Festival di Nuove Impressioni")
 * July–August: Concorso Nazionale Coreografico Danzalcamo
 * Second half of August: "Alcart – legalità e cultura" (Legality and Culture) a series of events (exhibitions, seminars, music, theatre etc.).
 * October: Concorso Internazionale per Cantanti Lirici “Città di Alcamo”, organized since 1998 by the Associazione Amici della Musica of Alcamo.
 * Second or third week-end of December: Cortiamo – International Contest of short films organized since 2006 by "Segni Nuovi" (a club of cinematographic culture within the Church of the Saints Paul and Bartholomew).

Sport events

 * 2–6 January: International Costa Gaia Trophy (youth soccer tournament).
 * European lightweight title (professional boxing) was contested in Alcamo on 14 August 1991. Defending champion Antonio Renzo (from Calabria) stopped British challenger Paul Charters in the 11th round.

Local market
The local market in Alcamo (called "mercatino") takes place every Wednesday morning in Via Tre Santi, near Viale Italia.

Cuisine
Some specialities of cuisine of Alcamo are:
 * Handmade maccheroni
 * Pasta con le sarde: Pasta with "finocchi and sarde" (wild fennel and sardines)
 * Sausages with cavuliceddi (a typical Alcamo vegetable)
 * Dried filled tomatoes
 * Cuddureddi (Christmas fig sweets)
 * Tetù (mixed spice chocolate biscuits)
 * Sciù (cream sweets)
 * Muffulette (A bread roll with ricotta or other fillings)

People

 * Cielo d'Alcamo (13th century), poet
 * Arcangelo Placenza from Calatafimi (1390–1460), presbyter and Franciscan friar
 * Sebastiano Bagolino (1560–1604), poet and painter
 * Guglielmo Borremans (1672–1744), Flemish painter
 * Ignazio De Blasi (1717–1783), historian
 * Giuseppe Renda (1772–1805), painter
 * Felice Pastore Cambon (1786–1862), baron of Rincione, politician and benefactor
 * Franco Alesi Grand Parent's of Former Formula 1 Driver Jean Alesi
 * Girolamo Caruso (1842–1923), agronomist and teacher at university
 * Pietro Maria Rocca (1847–1918), historian
 * Francesco Maria Mirabella (1850–1931), historian, school teacher, poet
 * Giuseppe Rizzo (1863–1912), presbyter, founder of the homonymous Cassa Rurale ed Artigiana
 * Nino Navarra (poet) (1885–1917) poet, writer, gold medal for his military value
 * Vito Fazio Allmayer (1885–1958), philosopher, pedagogist and university teacher
 * Pietro Montana (1890–1978), sculptor, painter and teacher
 * Peter H. Ruvolo (1895–1943), lawyer and politician
 * Gaspare Canino (1900–1977), puppeteer
 * Nicola Rubino (1905–1984), sculptor and painter
 * Vincenzo Regina (1910–2009), historian, presbyter
 * Salvatore Asta (1915–2004), Catholic archbishop and diplomat
 * Gino Patti (1925–1993), painter
 * Ludovico Corrao (1927–2011), politician and senator
 * Turi Simeti (1929), painter
 * Carlo Cataldo (1933), historian and poet
 * Vincenza Bono Parrino (1942), Minister of Cultural and Environmental Heritage in De Mita's government and teacher
 * Giacomo Romano Davare (1945), writer, stage director and teacher.\
 * Onofrio Giovenco (1908-2001) scientist and doctor.
 * Gisella Giovenco (Ferrara, 1946) painter, stylist and publicist
 * Franca Viola (1947), the first Italian woman who refused the repairing wedding
 * Antonino Raspanti (1959), Catholic bishop
 * Benedetto Lo Monaco (1960), actor
 * Vito Bongiorno (1963), painter
 * Calandra & Calandra (Maurizio 1960, Giuseppe 1969), Folk singers
 * Christian Rocca (1968), journalist and writer
 * Stefano La Colla, tenor
 * Domenico Piccichè (1970), pianist and teacher
 * Ignazio Corrao (1984), politician and eurosceptic eurodeputy
 * Sara Renda (1991), singer at the Opéra National de Bordeaux

Economy
Alcamo is one of the most important centres in Sicily for wine production, especially Bianco Alcamo D.O.C., made from vineyards with espalier or "tendone" structures and using white common or bright catarratto vines, eventually associated with damaschino, grecanico and trebbiano.

Besides the wine activity there are cattle and sheep breeding, olive growing (for the extraction of extra virgin olive oil), cereals (particularly wheat) and the typical oval melon, with a green wrinkled peel, locally called "miluni purceddu", which has the peculiarity that can be kept longer than other kinds of melon.

In the primary sector it is also significant quarrying (of different marbles and mostly travertino), though the tertiary sector (more or less advanced) has however got the majority of employed people.

Transports and infrastructures

There are two motorway junctions from A29 motorway Palermo-Mazara del Vallo: Alcamo Est and Alcamo Ovest, apart the junction of Castellammare del Golfo which links up with the north entrance to Alcamo. Another motorway junction is from Alcamo Ovest (A29 motorway, diramazione Alcamo-Trapani). Alcamo is crossed by two National Roads: strada statale 113, connecting Trapani with Messina, and strada statale 119, connecting Alcamo with Castelvetrano. The Railway line doesn't pass through the town centre but along the coast, then inland on the west side. The railway station of Alcamo Diramazione is located near the motorway junction of Alcamo Ovest and the station of Castellammare del Golfo is situated in the territory of Alcamo, precisely at Alcamo Marina.

These State Highways (or National Roads) pass through Alcamo:

 * SS 113 Settentrionale Sicula;
 * SS 119 of Gibellina;
 * SS 187 of Castellammare del Golfo;
 * SS 731 Link Road (Bretella) of Castellammare del Golfo;
 * SS 732 Link Road (Bretella) of Alcamo Est;
 * SS 733 Link Road (Bretella) of Alcamo Ovest.

These Regional Roads (SR) of Sicily:

 * SR 2 Parti Piccolo-Quaranta Salme-Croce di Fratacchia;
 * SR 3 Alcamo-Giardinaccio-Rocche Cadute-San Nicola;
 * SR 5 Bivio Quaranta Salme-Bivio Sant'Anna;
 * SR 6 of Calatubo;
 * SR 8 Amburgio-Morfino-Rincione-Coda di Volpe.

And also these Provincial Roads (SP) of the province of Trapani pass through Alcamo:
 * SP 10 for Camporeale;
 * SP 33 of Fiumefreddo
 * SP 47 for Alcamo-Station of Castellammare del Golfo;
 * SP 49 for Passofondo;
 * SP 55 Alcamo-Alcamo Marina.
 * SP 64 Quattrovie.

In the area of Alcamo there are also the following draining roads of the province of Trapani:
 * SB 21 Bisurdo-Stracciabisacce;
 * SB 22 Case di Piraino;
 * SB 23 Maruggi-Montelongo.

Along the National Road Palermo-Sciacca (SS 624) there is the exit "Alcamo" in both directions and is about 30 km from on the south-west side of the town. This exit, wholly located in the territory of Poggioreale, connects with the National Road of Gibellina (SS 119) near the ex railway station and motorway junction of Gallitello through the Provincial road SP9 (of the series n.182 Macchia-Sella-Bonfalco) and the SB0 (a local link road of Gibellina), to the border between the territories of Poggioreale and Monreale.

Alcamo is about 40 km from the airport "Falcone-Borsellino Airport" of Palermo-Punta Raisi and about 50 km from the "Vincenzo Florio Airport" of Trapani-Birgi.

Twin towns

 * 🇱🇻 Jelgava, Latvia

Sport
The most popular and practised sport in Alcamo, as in most Italian towns, has always been soccer; the greatest team is the Alcamo team, which was in the past a protagonist in some football seasons in League C (Italian Serie C), for its victories against Bari and Crotone, and in League D. Apart various regional trophies, it has won the Coppa Italia Dilettanti in 1996 and the subsequent Supercoppa Italiana Dilettanti. Together with the golden period in League C, these were the most notable pages of the football history in Alcamo. A recent society crisis has caused bankruptcy and the team which played in League D had to restart from the First Category League. Today it competes in the regional Eccellenza championship following the 2010 refoundation. The activity of juvenile soccer is very active, and the Adelkam football school emerges among the various youth teams because it has launched different football players and has won a lot of national and international competitions. Alcamo is also the principal centre of the Costa Gaia International Trophy, a youth football kermess in which a lot of titled teams take part and where many great players of the bigger championships have been the protagonists.

Basketball is also popular, today with better results than football anyway. The female team Basket Alcamo (Gea Magazzini) which has obtained important results in its history (a long participation in A1 League and the final match in the Ronchetti Cup), has played in the A2 League for eleven years, and has regained the major league in the season 2011–2012. The male team has also obtained good results, but not at the same levels.

The local handball team, Pallamano Alcamo plays its home matches at the Palasport Enzo D'Angelo.

Sport facilities
The town has got several sport facilities, the most important are the stadium Lelio Catella (with a capacity of about 10,000 people) for football and athletics, the Palazzetto dello Sport (sports hall) Tre Santi for Basket and the Palasport Enzo D'Angelo (an indoor stadium) for handball.

There is a private swimpool open to public use (La Fenice) where young boys (who have won National prizes) train regularly. In the same facility there is an ice-skating rink. When Alcamo football team played in League C, the home matches were played at stadium Don Rizzo, which together with Sant'Ippolito stadium, is now used by juvenile and minor teams.

Sports personalities

 * Gino Colaussi (1914–1991), national football player and trainer for Alcamo team
 * Charley Fusari (1924–1985), US boxer
 * Cynthia Cooper (1963), ex player for Basket Alcamo
 * Jean Alesi (1964), ex French car-racer
 * Antonino Asta (1970), ex football player and trainer.
 * Lisa Leslie (1972), ex player for Basket Alcamo
 * Giuseppe Scurto (1984), ex football player and trainer.
 * Giacomo Di Donato (1988), ex football player

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Alcamo


text:
Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc (BrE: ; AmE: ; Mont Blanc ; Monte Bianco, both meaning "white mountain") is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, and the highest mountain in Europe outside the Caucasus mountains, rising 4805.59 m above sea level, located on the Franco-Italian border. It is the second-most prominent mountain in Europe, after Mount Elbrus, and the 11th most prominent mountain in the world.

It gives its name to the Mont Blanc massif, which straddles parts of France, Italy and Switzerland. Mont Blanc's summit lies on the watershed line between the valleys of Ferret and Veny in Italy, and the valleys of Montjoie, and Arve in France. Ownership of the summit area has long been disputed between France and Italy.

The Mont Blanc massif is popular for outdoor activities like hiking, climbing, trail running and winter sports like skiing, and snowboarding. The most popular climbing route to the summit of Mont Blanc is the Goûter Route, which typically takes two days.

The three towns and their communes which surround Mont Blanc are Courmayeur in Aosta Valley, Italy; and Saint-Gervais-les-Bains and Chamonix in Haute-Savoie, France. The latter town was the site of the first Winter Olympics. A cable car ascends and crosses the mountain range from Courmayeur to Chamonix through the Col du Géant. The 11.6 km Mont Blanc Tunnel, constructed between 1957 and 1965, runs beneath the mountain and is a major transalpine transport route.

Geology
Mont Blanc and adjacent mountains in the massif are predominately formed from a large intrusion of granite (termed a batholith) which was forced up through a basement layer of gneiss and mica schists during the Variscan mountain-forming event of the late Palaeozoic period. The summit of Mont Blanc is located at the point of contact of these two rock types. To the south west, the granite contact is of a more intrusive nature, whereas to the north east it changes to being more tectonic. The granites are mostly very-coarse grained, ranging in type from microgranites to porphyroid granites. The massif is tilted in a north-westerly direction and was cut by near-vertical recurrent faults lying in a north–south direction during the Variscan orogeny. Further faulting with shear zones subsequently occurred during the later Alpine orogeny. Repeated tectonic phases have caused breakup of the rock in multiple directions and in overlapping planes. Finally, past and current glaciation caused significant sculpting of the landscape into its present-day form.

The first systematic account of the minerals of the Mont Blanc area was published in 1873 by Venance Payot. His list, entitled "Statistique minéralogique des environs du Mt-Blanc", catalogued 90 mineral types although it also included those present only as very small components of rocks. If these are excluded, it is known today that at least 68 separate mineral species occur across the wider range of the Mont Blanc massif.

Climate
Located on the watershed between the Rhône and the Po, the massif of Mont Blanc is also situated between the two different climatic regions of the northern and western Alps and that of the southern Alps. Climatic conditions on the Mer de Glace are similar to those found on the northern side of the Swiss Alps.

The climate is cold and temperate (Köppen climate classification Cfb), and is greatly influenced by altitude. Being the highest part of the Alps, Mont Blanc and surrounding mountains can create their own weather patterns. Temperatures drop as the mountains gain in height, and the summit of Mont Blanc is a permanent ice cap, with temperatures around -20 C. The summit is also prone to strong winds and sudden weather changes. Because of its great overall height, a considerable proportion is permanently glaciated or snow-covered and is exposed to extremely cold conditions.

There is, however, significant variation in precipitation with altitude. For example, the village of Chamonix below Mont Blanc is at an elevation of approximately 1030 m. It receives around 1020 mm of annual precipitation, whilst the Col du Midi, which is at 3500 m above sea level, receives significantly more, totalling 3100 mm. However, at an even higher altitude (near the summit of Mont Blanc), precipitation is considerably less, with only around 1100 mm recorded, despite the latter measurements being taken at the height of 4300 m.

History

The Mont Blanc was the highest mountain of the Frankish Empire under Charlemagne and the highest mountain of the Holy Roman Empire until 1792.

In 1760, Swiss naturalist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure began to go to Chamonix to observe Mont Blanc. He tried to summit it with the Courmayeur mountain guide Jean-Laurent Jordaney, a native of Pré-Saint-Didier, who accompanied De Saussure since 1774 on the Miage Glacier and Mont Crammont.

The first recorded ascent of Mont Blanc (at the time neither within Italy nor France) was on 8 August 1786 by Jacques Balmat and the doctor Michel Paccard. This climb, initiated by Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, who rewarded the successful ascent, traditionally marks the start of modern mountaineering. The first woman to reach the summit was Marie Paradis in 1808.

Ownership of the summit
At the scale of the Mont Blanc massif, the border between Italy and France passes along most of the main Alpine watershed, from the Aiguille des Glaciers to Mont Dolent, where it reaches the border with Switzerland. However, its precise location near the summits of Mont Blanc and nearby Dôme du Goûter is disputed. Italian officials claim the border follows the watershed, splitting both summits between Italy and France. In contrast, French officials claim the border avoids the two summits, placing them entirely with France. The size of these two (distinct) disputed areas is approximately 65 ha on Mont Blanc and 10 ha on Dôme du Goûter.

In 1723, the Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus II, acquired the Kingdom of Sardinia. The resulting state of Sardinia was to become preeminent in the Italian unification.

Citing the Treaty of Paris (1796), France claims that the historical border of Savoy and Piedmont diverged from the watershed line, fully encompassing the summit of Mont Blanc within Savoy and consequently, within French territory.

After the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna restored the King of Sardinia in Savoy, Nice, and Piedmont, his traditional territories, overruling the 1796 Treaty of Paris. Forty-five years later, after the Second Italian War of Independence, it was replaced by a new legal act. This act was signed in Turin on 24 March 1860 by Napoleon III and Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy, and deals with the annexation of Savoy (following the French neutrality for the plebiscites held in Tuscany, Modena, Parma and Romagna to join the Kingdom of Sardinia, against the Pope's will). A demarcation agreement, signed on 7 March 1861, defined the new border. With the formation of Italy, for the first time, Mont Blanc was located on the border of France and Italy, along the old border between the department of Savoy and that of Piedmont, formerly belonging to the Savoyard state.

The 1860 act is still legally valid for both the French and Italian governments. Italy claims, that the border was moved by France in 1865, when surveys carried out by a cartographer of the French army, Captain JJ Mieulet, incorporated the summit into French territory, making the state border deviate from the watershed line, and giving rise to the differences with the maps published in Italy in the same period.

Modern Swiss mapping, published by the Federal Office of Topography, plots a region of disputed territory (statut de territoire contesté) around the summits of both Mont Blanc and the Dôme du Goûter. One of its interpretations of the French-Italian border places both summits straddling a line running directly along the geographic ridgeline (watershed) between France and Italy, thus sharing their summits equally between both states. However, a second interpretation places both summits, as well as that of Mont Blanc de Courmayeur (although much less clearly in the latter case), solely within France.

NATO maps take data from the Italian national mapping agency, the Istituto Geografico Militare, which is based upon past treaties in force.

Janssen observatory
In 1890, Pierre Janssen, an astronomer and the director of the Meudon astrophysical observatory, considered the construction of an observatory at the summit of Mont Blanc. Gustave Eiffel agreed to take on the project, provided he could build on a rock foundation if found at a depth of less than 12 m below the ice. In 1891, the Swiss surveyor Imfeld dug two 23 m horizontal tunnels 12 m below the ice summit but found nothing solid. Consequently, the Eiffel project was abandoned.

Despite this, the observatory was built in 1893. During the cold wave of January 1893, a temperature of -43 C was recorded on Mont Blanc, being the lowest ever recorded there.

Levers attached to the ice supported the observatory. This worked to some extent until 1906, when the building started leaning heavily. The movement of the levers corrected the lean slightly, but three years later (two years after Janssen's death), a crevasse started opening under the observatory. It was abandoned. Eventually the building fell, and only the tower could be saved in extremis.

Air crashes
The mountain was the scene of two fatal air crashes; Air India Flight 245 in 1950 and Air India Flight 101 in 1966. Both planes were approaching Geneva Airport and the pilots miscalculated their descent; 48 and 117 people, respectively, died. The passengers on flight 101 included nuclear scientist Homi J. Bhabha, known as the "father" of India's nuclear programme.

Tunnel
In 1946, a drilling project was initiated to carve a tunnel through the mountain. The Mont Blanc tunnel would connect Chamonix, France, and Courmayeur, Italy, and become one of the major transalpine transport routes between the two countries. In 1965, the tunnel opened to vehicle traffic with a length of 11611 m.

1999 disaster
In 1999, a transport truck caught fire in the tunnel beneath the mountain. In total, 39 people were killed when the fire raged out of control. The tunnel was renovated in the aftermath to increase driver safety. Renovations include computerised detection equipment, extra security bays, a parallel escape shaft, and a fire station in the middle of the tunnel. The escape shafts also have clean air flowing through them via vents. Any people in the security bays now have live video contact to communicate with the control centre. A remote site for cargo safety inspection was created on each side: Aosta in Italy and Passy-Le Fayet in France. Here all trucks are inspected before entering the tunnel. These remote sites are also used as staging areas to control commercial traffic during peak hours. The renovated tunnel reopened three years after the disaster.

Elevation
The summit of Mont Blanc is a thick, perennial ice-and-snow dome whose thickness varies. Therefore, no exact and permanent summit elevation can be determined, though accurate measurements have been made on specific dates. Its official elevation was 4807 m for a long time. In 2002, the IGN and expert surveyors, with the aid of GPS technology, measured it to be 4807.40 m. After the 2003 heatwave in Europe, a team of scientists remeasured the height on 6 and 7 September. The team was made up of the glaciologist Luc Moreau, two surveyors from the GPS Company, three people from the IGN, seven expert surveyors, four mountain guides from Chamonix and Saint-Gervais and four students from various institutes in France. This team noted that the elevation was 4808.45 m, and the peak had shifted to a point 75 cm away from where it had been in 2002.

After these results were published, more than 500 points were measured to assess the effects of climate change and the mountain's height fluctuations at different points. Since then, the mountain's elevation has been measured every two years.

The summit was measured again in 2005, and the results were published on 16 December 2005. The height was found to be 4808.75 m, 30 cm more than the previously recorded height. The rock summit was found to be at 4792 m, some 40 m west of the ice-covered summit.

In 2007, the summit was measured at 4807.9 m and in 2009 at 4807.45 m. In 2013, the summit was measured at 4810.02 m and in 2015 at 4808.73 m. From the summit of Mont Blanc on a clear day, the Jura, the Vosges, the Black Forest, and the Massif Central mountain ranges can be seen, as well as the principal summits of the Alps.

Climbing routes
Several classic climbing routes lead to the summit of Mont Blanc:

Nowadays, the summit is ascended by an average of 20,000 mountaineer tourists each year. It could be considered a technically easy yet arduous ascent for someone well-trained and acclimatised to the altitude. From l'Aiguille du Midi (where the cable car stops), Mont Blanc seems quite close, being 1000 m higher. But while the peak looks deceptively close, the La Voie des 3 Monts route (known to be more technical and challenging than other more commonly used routes) requires more ascent over two other 4,000 m mountains, Mont Blanc du Tacul and Mont Maudit, before the final section of the climb is reached. The last 1,000 m push to the summit is undertaken.
 * The most popular route is the Goûter Route, also known as the Voie Des Cristalliers or the Voie Royale. Starting from Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, the Tramway du Mont-Blanc (TMB) is taken to get to the Gare du Nid d'Aigle. The ascent begins in the direction of the Refuge de Tête Rousse, crossing the Grand Couloir or Goûter Corridor, considered dangerous because of frequent rockfalls, leading to the Goûter Hut for night shelter. The next day the route leads to the Dôme du Goûter, past the emergency Vallot cabin and l'Arête des Bosses.
 * La Voie des 3 Monts is also known as La Traversée. Starting from Chamonix, the Téléphérique de l'Aiguille du Midi is taken towards the Col du Midi. The Cosmiques Hut is used to spend the night. The next day the ascent continues over Mont Blanc du Tacul and Mont Maudit.
 * The historic itinerary via the Grands Mulets Hut, or the old normal route on the French side, which is most frequently traversed in winter by ski, or in summer to descend to Chamonix.
 * The normal Italian itinerary is called La route des Aiguilles Grises. After crossing the Miage Glacier, climbers spend the night at the Gonella refuge. The next day, one proceeds through the Col des Aiguilles Grises and the Dôme du Goûter, concluding at L'arête des Bosses (Bosses ridge).
 * The Miage – Bionnassay – Mont Blanc crossing is usually done in three days. It has been described as a truly magical expedition of ice and snow arêtes at great altitude. The route begins from Contamines-Montjoie, with the night spent in the Conscrits Hut. The following day, the Dômes de Miages is crossed and the night is spent at the Durier cabin. The third day proceeds over l'Aiguille de Bionnassay and the Dôme du Goûter, finally reaching the summit of Mont Blanc via the Bosses ridge.

Each year climbing deaths occur on Mont Blanc. On the busiest weekends, normally around August, the local rescue service performs an average of 12 missions, mostly directed to aid people in trouble on one of the normal routes of the mountain. Some routes require knowledge of high-altitude mountaineering and a guide (or at least an experienced mountaineer), and all require proper equipment. All routes are long and arduous, involving delicate passages and the hazard of rockfall or avalanche. Climbers may also suffer altitude sickness, occasionally life-threatening, particularly if they are not properly acclimatised.

Fatalities
A 1994 estimate suggests there had been 6,000 to 8,000 alpinist fatalities in total, more than on any other mountain. These numbers exclude the fatalities of Air India Flight 245 and Air India Flight 101, two planes that crashed into Mont Blanc. Despite unsubstantiated claims recurring in media that "some estimates put the fatality rate at an average of 100 hikers a year", actual reported annual numbers at least since the 1990s are between 10 and 20: in 2017, fourteen people died out of 20,000 summit attempts, and two remained missing; with 15 in 2018 as of August.

A French study on the especially risky "Goûter couloir, on the normal route on Mont Blanc" and necessary rescue operations found that, between 1990 and 2011, there were 74 deaths "between the Tête Rousse refuge (3,187 m) and the Goûter refuge (3,830 m)". There were 17 more in 2012–15, none in 2016, and 11 in 2017.

Refuges

 * Refuge Vallot, 4362 m
 * Bivouac Giuseppe Lampugnani, 3860 m
 * Bivouac Marco Crippa, 3840 m
 * Refuge Goûter, 3817 m
 * Bivouac Corrado Alberico – Luigi Borgna, 3684 m
 * Refuge Cosmiques, 3613 m
 * Refuge Tête Rousse, 3167 m
 * Refuge Francesco Gonella, 3071 m
 * Refuge Grands Mulets, 3050 m

Impacts of climate change
The recent temperature rises and heatwaves, such as those of the summers of 2015 and 2018, have significantly impacted many climbing routes across the Alps, including those on Mont Blanc. For example, in 2015, the Grand Mulets route, previously popular in the 20th century, was blocked by virtually impenetrable crevasse fields, and the Gouter Hut was closed by municipal decree for some days because of a very high rockfall danger, with some stranded climbers evacuated by helicopter.

In 2016 a crevasse opened at high altitude, also indicating previously unobserved glacial movements. The new crevasse forms an obstacle to be scaled by climbing parties on the final part of the itinerary to the top shared by the popular Goûter Route and the Grand Mulets Route.

Exploits and incidents

 * 1950: Air India Flight 245 crashes into Mont Blanc.
 * 1966: Air India Flight 101 crashes into Mont Blanc.
 * 11 July 2013: Kilian Jornet beat the fastest overall time for ascent and descent with 4 hours, 57 minutes and 40 seconds.
 * 21 June 2018: Emelie Forsberg set a women's fastest known time up and down from Chamonix with 7 hours 53 minutes and 12 seconds, improving her previous record of 8 hours 10 minutes from 2013.
 * 17 June 2023: Hillary Gerardi set a new women's fastest known time with 7 hours, 27 minutes and 39 seconds, taking a longer but safer route via the Arête Nord due to serac fall.
 * 1950: Air India Flight 245 crashes into Mont Blanc.
 * 1966: Air India Flight 101 crashes into Mont Blanc.
 * 11 July 2013: Kilian Jornet beat the fastest overall time for ascent and descent with 4 hours, 57 minutes and 40 seconds.
 * 21 June 2018: Emelie Forsberg set a women's fastest known time up and down from Chamonix with 7 hours 53 minutes and 12 seconds, improving her previous record of 8 hours 10 minutes from 2013.
 * 17 June 2023: Hillary Gerardi set a new women's fastest known time with 7 hours, 27 minutes and 39 seconds, taking a longer but safer route via the Arête Nord due to serac fall.
 * 11 July 2013: Kilian Jornet beat the fastest overall time for ascent and descent with 4 hours, 57 minutes and 40 seconds.
 * 21 June 2018: Emelie Forsberg set a women's fastest known time up and down from Chamonix with 7 hours 53 minutes and 12 seconds, improving her previous record of 8 hours 10 minutes from 2013.
 * 17 June 2023: Hillary Gerardi set a new women's fastest known time with 7 hours, 27 minutes and 39 seconds, taking a longer but safer route via the Arête Nord due to serac fall.
 * 11 July 2013: Kilian Jornet beat the fastest overall time for ascent and descent with 4 hours, 57 minutes and 40 seconds.
 * 21 June 2018: Emelie Forsberg set a women's fastest known time up and down from Chamonix with 7 hours 53 minutes and 12 seconds, improving her previous record of 8 hours 10 minutes from 2013.
 * 17 June 2023: Hillary Gerardi set a new women's fastest known time with 7 hours, 27 minutes and 39 seconds, taking a longer but safer route via the Arête Nord due to serac fall.
 * 17 June 2023: Hillary Gerardi set a new women's fastest known time with 7 hours, 27 minutes and 39 seconds, taking a longer but safer route via the Arête Nord due to serac fall.

Incidents involving children
In July 2014, an American entrepreneur and traveller Patrick Sweeney attempted to break the record with his nine-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter. They were caught in an avalanche, escaped death and decided not to pursue their attempt.

In August 2014, an unknown Austrian climber with his 5-year-old son were intercepted by mountain gendarmes at 3,200 m and forced to turn back.

On 5 August 2017, 9-year-old Hungarian twins and their mother were rescued from 3,800 m by helicopter while their father and family friend continued their summit attempt.

Cinema and television

 * La Terre, son visage, is a documentary by Jean-Luc Prévost and published by Édition Société national de télévision française, released in 1984. It is part of the Haroun Tazieff raconte sa terre, vol. 1 series. In it he talks about the west–east crossing of Mont Blanc.
 * The film Malabar Princess.
 * The television-film Premier de cordée.
 * Storm over Mont Blanc (Stürme über dem Mont Blanc, 1930) with Leni Riefenstahl and directed by Arnold Fanck
 * La Roue (The Wheel, 1923) is a 273-minute film by Abel Gance depicting rail operations, workers, and families in south-eastern France, including the Mont Blanc area.

Literature

 * Premier de cordée by Roger Frison-Roche
 * Hugo et le Mont Blanc by Colette Cosnie – Édition Guérin
 * Hymn Before Sunrise, in the Vale of Chamouni by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
 * Manfred by Lord Byron
 * Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
 * Mont Blanc by Percy Shelley
 * Point Blanc by Anthony Horowitz
 * The Prelude Book VI by William Wordsworth
 * , by Letitia Elizabeth Landon, a poem to accompany an engraving of a painting by J. M. W. Turner.
 * Kordian by Juliusz Słowacki
 * Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains by Jon Krakauer
 * Running Water by AEW Mason
 * La neige en deuil by Henri Troyat

Protection
The Mont Blanc massif is being put forward as a potential World Heritage Site because of its uniqueness and cultural importance considered the birthplace and symbol of modern mountaineering. It would require the three governments of Italy, France and Switzerland to request UNESCO for it to be listed.

Mont Blanc is one of the most visited tourist destinations in the world. For this reason, some view it as threatened. Pro-Mont Blanc (an international collective of associations for the protection of Mont Blanc) published in 2002 the book Le versant noir du mont Blanc (The black hillside of Mont Blanc), which exposes current and future problems in conserving the site.

In 2007, Europe's two highest toilets (at 4,260 metres, 13,976 feet) were taken by helicopter to the top of Mont Blanc. They are also serviced by helicopter. They will serve 30,000 skiers and hikers annually, helping to alleviate the discharge of urine and faeces that spreads down the mountain face with the spring thaw.

Global warming has begun to melt glaciers and cause avalanches on Mont Blanc, creating more dangerous climbing conditions.

title: Mont Blanc


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Carpigiani

Carpigiani is an Italian company, located near Bologna, specialising in the production of gelato and ice cream machines. It has approximately 35% of the global market share, which includes both machines for the production of Italian artisan gelato and those for the production of soft serve gelato and ice cream.

History
Brothers Bruto and Poerio Carlo Carpigiani created the "Gastecnica S.a.s dei fratelli Carpigiani" in 1944. Carpigiani produced and patented a gelato machine, named "Autogelatiera". The Carpigiani soft serve ice cream machines make a fluffy, whippy ice cream due to their clever whipping action, mixing air and ice cream mix, during the ice cream making process.

The technological growth in the 1960s brought Carpigiani to become the worldwide leader in ice cream machinery, with the invention of the "hard-o-matic".

In 1964 an American secondary company was founded with the name Coldelite U.S.A. and in 1971 Carpigiani bought Cattabriga (concurrent firm). In 1989 the Comenda Ali S.p.A. group bought the Carpigiani Bruto S.p.A., now become Carpigiani Group - Ali Group S.r.l. In 1993 Carpagiani was certified UNI EN ISO 9001:1987. It was the first company in the business to receive this certification.

The company has branches in France, Germany, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States, Japan, China, Singapore, Russia and two in South America. Production plants are located in Bologna, including the headquarters in Anzola dell'Emilia, in Forlì, in Gandia and in Zhongshan. In the 1990s, the Swiss Ott-Freezer, the Promag of Milan, the Spanish Sencotel and the Italian GBG were acquired.

In 2003 the Carpigiani Gelato University was founded, a professional training school on the production of artisan gelato. By 2021 the school, which has established itself as the largest and most prestigious gelato school in the world, has 20 campuses around the globe in addition to the headquarters in Anzola, where lessons are held in Italian, English and French.

On 27 September 2012, the Carpigiani Gelato Museum was inaugurated, the first and only museum in the world entirely dedicated to gelato.

title: Carpigiani


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Segesta

Segesta (Ἔγεστα, Egesta, or Σέγεστα, Ségesta, or Αἴγεστα, Aígesta; Siggesta) was one of the major cities of the Elymians, one of the three indigenous peoples of Sicily. The other major cities of the Elymians were Eryx and Entella. It is located in the northwestern part of Sicily in Italy, near the modern commune of Calatafimi-Segesta in the province of Trapani. The hellenization of Segesta happened very early and had a profound effect on its people.

Origins
The origin and foundation of Segesta are extremely obscure. The tradition current among the Greeks and adopted by Thucydides, ascribed its foundation to a band of Trojan settlers, fugitives from the destruction of their city; and this tradition was readily welcomed by the Romans, who in consequence claimed a kindred origin with the Segestans. Thucydides seems to have considered the Elymians (Elymi), a barbarian tribe in the neighborhood of Eryx and Segesta, as descended from the Trojans in question; but another account represents the Elymi as a distinct people, already existing in this part of Sicily when the Trojans arrived there and founded the two cities. A different story seems also to have been current, according to which Segesta owed its origin to a band of Phocians, who had been among the followers of Philoctetes; and, as usual, later writers sought to reconcile the two accounts.

Another version of the Trojan story related in Virgil's Aeneid, which would seem to have been adopted by the inhabitants themselves, ascribed the foundation of the city jointly by the territorial king Egestus or Aegestus (the Acestes of Virgil), who was said to be the offspring of a Dardanian damsel named Segesta by the river god Crinisus, and by those of Aeneas' folk who wished to remain behind with Acestes to found the city of Acesta. We are told also that the names of Simois and Scamander were given by the Trojan colonists to two small streams which flowed beneath the town, and the latter name is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus as one still in use at a much later period.

The belief that the name of the city was originally Acesta or Egesta and changed to Segesta by the Romans to avoid its ill-omened meaning in Latin (egestās means "poverty" or "lack") is disproved by coins which prove that considerably before the time of Thucydides it was called by the inhabitants themselves Segesta, though this form seems to have been softened by the Greeks of Magna Graecia into Egesta.

The city was occupied by a people distinct from the Sicanians, the native race of this part of Sicily, and on the other that it was not a Greek colony. Thucydides, in enumerating the allies of the Athenians at the time of the Peloponnesian War, distinctly calls the Segestans barbarians. At the same time they appear to have been, from a very early period, in close connection with the Greek cities of Sicily, and entering into relations both of hostility and alliance with the Hellenic states, wholly different from the other barbarians in the island. The early influence of Greek civilisation is shown also by their coins, which are inscribed with Greek characters, and bear the unquestionable impress of Greek art.

In historical accounts
The first historical notice of the Segestans transmitted to us represents them as already engaged (as early as 580 BC) in hostilities with Selinus (modern Selinunte), which would appear to prove that both cities had already extended their territories so far as to come into contact with each other. By the timely assistance of a body of Cnidian and Rhodian emigrants under Pentathlus, the Segestans at this time obtained the advantage over their adversaries. A more obscure statement of Diodorus relates that again in 454 BC, the Segestans were engaged in hostilities with the Lilybaeans for the possession of the territory on the river Mazarus. The name of the Lilybaeans is here certainly erroneous, as no town of that name existed till long afterwards; but we know not what people is really meant, though the presumption is that it is the Selinuntines, with whom the Segestans seem to have been engaged in almost perpetual disputes. It was doubtless with a view to strengthen themselves against these neighbors that the Segestans took advantage of the first Athenian expedition to Sicily under Laches (426 BC), and concluded a treaty of alliance with Athens. This, however, seems to have led to no result, and shortly after, hostilities having again broken out, the Selinuntines called in the aid of the Syracusans, with whose assistance they obtained great advantages, and were able to press Segesta closely both by land and sea. In this extremity the Segestans, having in vain applied for assistance to Agrigentum, and even to Carthage, again had recourse to the Athenians, who were, without much difficulty, persuaded to espouse their cause, and send a fleet to Sicily in 416 BC. It is said that this result was in part attained by fraud, the Segestans having deceived the Athenian envoys by a fallacious display of wealth, and led them to conceive a greatly exaggerated notion of their resources. They, however, actually furnished 60 talents in ready money, and 30 more after the arrival of the Athenian armament.

But though the relief of Segesta was thus the original object of the great Athenian expedition to Sicily (415-413 BC), that city bears little part in the subsequent operations of the war. Nicias, indeed, on arriving in the island, proposed to proceed at once to Selinus, and compel that people to submission by the display of their formidable armament. But this advice was overruled: the Athenians turned their arms against Syracuse, and the contest between Segesta and Selinus was almost forgotten in the more important struggle between those two great powers. In the summer of 415 BC an Athenian fleet, proceeding along the coast, took the small town of Hyccara, on the coast, near Segesta, and made it over to the Segestans. The latter people are again mentioned on more than one occasion as sending auxiliary troops to assist their Athenian allies; but no other notice occurs of them.

The final defeat of the Athenians left the Segestans again exposed to the attacks of their neighbors, the Selinuntines. Feeling themselves unable to cope with them, they again had recourse to the Carthaginians, who determined to espouse their cause, and sent them, in the first instance, an auxiliary force of 5000 Africans and 800 Campanian mercenaries, which sufficed to ensure them a victory over their rivals in 410 BC. This was followed the next year by a vast armament under Hannibal Mago, who landed at Lilybaeum, and, proceeding direct to Selinus, took and destroyed that city as well as Himera. The Carthaginian power now became firmly established in the western portion of Sicily. Segesta, surrounded on all sides by this formidable neighbor, naturally fell gradually into the position of a dependent ally of Carthage. It was one of the few cities that remained faithful to this alliance even in 397 BC, when the great expedition of Dionysius I of Syracuse to the West of Sicily and the siege of Motya seemed altogether to shake the power of Carthage. Dionysius in consequence laid siege to Segesta, and pressed it with the utmost vigor, especially after the fall of Motya. The city, however, was able to defy his efforts, until the landing of Himilco with a formidable Carthaginian force changed the aspect of affairs, and compelled Dionysius to raise the siege.

From this time there are few mentions of Segesta till the time of Agathocles of Syracuse, under whom it suffered a great calamity. The despot landed in the West of Sicily on his return from Africa (307 BC), and was received into the city as a friend and ally. He suddenly turned upon the inhabitants on a pretence of disaffection, and put the whole of the citizens (said to amount to 10,000 in number) to the sword, plundered their wealth, and sold the women and children into slavery. He then changed the name of the city to Dicaeopolis, and assigned it as a residence to the fugitives and deserters that had gathered around him.

It is probable that Segesta never altogether recovered this blow; but it soon resumed its original name, and again appears in history as an independent city. Thus it is mentioned in 276 BC, as one of the cities which joined Pyrrhus of Epirus during his expedition into the West of Sicily. It, however, soon after fell again under the power of the Carthaginians; and it was probably on this occasion that the city was taken and plundered by them, as alluded to by Cicero; a circumstance of which there are no other account. It continued subject to, or at least dependent on that people, till the First Punic War. In the first year of that war (264 BC) it was attacked by the consul Appius Claudius Caudex, but without success; but shortly after the inhabitants put the Carthaginian garrison to the sword, and declared for the alliance of Rome. They were in consequence besieged by a Carthaginian force, and were at one time reduced to great straits, but were relieved by the arrival of Gaius Duilius, after his naval victory in 260 BC. Segesta seems to have been one of the first of the Sicilian cities to set the example of defection from Carthage; on which account, as well as of their pretended Trojan descent, the inhabitants were treated with great distinction by the Romans. They were exempted from all public burdens, and even as late as the time of Cicero continued to be "sine foedere immunes ac liberi" - a free and immune city. After the destruction of Carthage, Scipio Africanus restored to the Segestans a statue of Diana which had been carried off by the Carthaginians, probably when they obtained possession of the city after the departure of Pyrrhus.

During the Second Servile War also, in 102 BC, the territory of Segesta is again mentioned as one of those where the insurrection broke out with the greatest fury. But with the exception of these incidental notices we hear little of it under the Roman government. It seems to have been still a considerable town in the time of Cicero, and had a port or emporium of its own on the bay about 10 km distant. This emporium seems to have grown up in the days of Strabo to be a more important place than Segesta itself: but the continued existence of the ancient city is attested both by Pliny and Ptolemy; and we learn from the former that the inhabitants, though they no longer retained their position of nominal independence, enjoyed the privileges of the Latin citizenship. It seems, however, to have been a decaying place, and no trace of it is subsequently found in history. The site is said to have been finally abandoned, in consequence of the ravages of the Saracens, in 900 AD, and is now wholly desolate. The modern town of Castellammare del Golfo, about 10 km distant, occupies nearly, if not precisely, the same site as the ancient emporium or port of Segesta.

Situation
The ruins of the city are located on the top of Monte Bàrbaro at 305 m above sea level. The city was protected by steep slopes on several sides and by walls on the more gentle slope towards the temple.

The hilltop offers a view over the valley towards the Gulf of Castellamare. The city controlled several major roads between the coast to the north and the hinterland. Very little is known about the city plan. Aerial photography indicates a regular city plan, built in part on terraces to overcome the natural sloping terrain. The current remains might be from the reconstruction after the destruction of the city by Agathocles.

Current archaeological work indicates that the site was reoccupied by a Muslim community in the Norman period. Excavations have unearthed a Muslim necropolis and a mosque from the 12th century next to a Norman castle. Evidence suggests that the mosque was destroyed after the arrival of a new Christian overlord at the beginning of the 13th century. The city appears to have been finally abandoned by the second half of the 13th century.

The temple
On a hill just outside the site of the ancient city of Segesta lies an unusually well-preserved Doric temple. Some think it to have been built in the 420s BC by an Athenian architect, despite the city not having any Greek population. The prevailing view is that it was built by the indigenous Elymians. The temple has six by fourteen columns on a base measuring 21 by 56 metres, on a platform three steps high. Several elements suggest that the temple was never finished. The columns have not been fluted as they normally would have been in a Doric temple, and there are still bosses present in the blocks of the base (used for lifting the blocks into place but then normally removed). The temple also lacks a cella, any ornamentation, altar or deity dedication, and was never roofed over. The temple was never completed due to the war between Segesta and Selinunte. It managed to escape destruction by the Carthaginians in the late 5th century.

title: Segesta


text:
The Hollywood Revue

The Hollywood Revue of 1929, or simply The Hollywood Revue, is a 1929 American pre-Code musical comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was the studio's second feature-length musical, and one of their earliest sound films. Produced by Harry Rapf and Irving Thalberg and directed by Charles Reisner, it features nearly all of MGM's stars in a two-hour revue that includes three segments in Technicolor. The masters of ceremonies are Conrad Nagel and Jack Benny.

At the 2nd Academy Awards, the film received a Best Picture nomination (its sole nomination) but lost to another Irving Thalberg MGM production, The Broadway Melody.

Due to being a film published in 1929, it will enter the public domain on January 1, 2025.

Production
Unlike M-G-M's imposing feature films, which always boasted strong story values, The Hollywood Revue of 1929 was a plotless parade of variety acts. Conrad Nagel, interviewed for the book The Real Tinsel, recalled, "Everybody thought Harry Rapf was crazy for making it." Billed as an "All-Star Musical Extravaganza", the film includes performances by once and future stars, including Joan Crawford singing and dancing on stage. (She later remarked, "Revue was one of those let's-throw-everyone-on-the-lot-into-a musical things, but I did a good song-and-dance number."). Other segments feature Gus Edwards, John Gilbert, Norma Shearer, Lionel Barrymore, Buster Keaton, Marie Dressler, Bessie Love, Marion Davies, Anita Page, and the comedy team of Karl Dane and George K. Arthur.

Highlights of the film are a comedy routine starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as inept magicians, and a variety of musical performances. One of these is the debut of "Singin' in the Rain", performed initially by Cliff Edwards as "Ukulele Ike,'" and later performed at the end of the film by the entire cast. This latter all-star color sequence was a last-minute addition to the film, shot late at night on June 10, 1929, just ten days before the premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The only major M-G-M stars missing from the revue are Greta Garbo, Ramon Novarro, and Lon Chaney, although Chaney is referred to by name in one of the songs performed and Garbo is spoken of during one of the introductory dialogues. Only one sequence was cut from the film: three songs by The Brox Sisters, which was recycled into a short subject, Gems of MGM. Another sequence, a parody of the Albertina Rasch ballet's "pearl dance" by Marie Dressler, was planned but not shot (as the film's production records reveal). Instead, the number was replaced by one featuring Buster Keaton, though Dressler did pose for stills wearing a Lady Godiva wig.

The film is sometimes cited, as on the DVD release of the 1952 Singin' in the Rain, as the film that led to the downfall of Gilbert's career. Gilbert, a popular silent film actor best known for his work opposite Garbo, possessed a pleasant, tenor speaking voice which did not always match his heroic, dashing screen image. In Hollywood Revue he plays the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet with Norma Shearer, first straight, then for laughs with contemporary slang. It is possible, though, that the negative effect of the film on Gilbert's career has been overstated, since many contemporary reviews made no criticism of his performance. His problems really began with the next two films he made, His Glorious Night (1929) and Redemption (1930).

Musical numbers
The circulating print of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 runs as follows:

Act I

 * "The Palace of Minstrel" sung and danced by a minstrel chorus
 * "Masters of Ceremonies" Jack Benny introduces Conrad Nagel. Charles King and Cliff Edwards interfere.
 * "Got a Feeling for You" sung by Joan Crawford
 * "Old Folks at Home" sung by chorus
 * "Old Black Joe" sung by chorus
 * "Low-Down Rhythm" sung and danced by June Purcell
 * "Your Mother and Mine" sung by Charles King
 * "You Were Meant for Me" "sung" by Conrad Nagel (whose voice was dubbed by Charles King) to Anita Page
 * "Nobody but You" sung by Cliff Edwards
 * "Your Mother and Mine" played by Jack Benny on his violin with interjections from Karl Dane and George K. Arthur
 * "Cut Up" comedy skit featuring William Haines ripping up Jack Benny's suit
 * "I Never Knew I Could Do a Thing Like That" sung by Bessie Love
 * "For I'm the Queen" sung by Marie Dressler, assisted by Polly Moran
 * "Magic Act" introduced by Jack Benny, featuring Laurel and Hardy as magicians in a comedy skit (their first appearance in a sound feature film)
 * "Military March" with Marion Davies singing "Oh, What a Man" and "Tommy Atkins on Parade" followed by military drill and dancing. The Brox Sisters conclude this number singing "Strike Up the Band"

Intermission

 * "Nobody But You", "Your Mother and Mine", and "I've Got a Feeling for You" by the orchestra

Act II

 * "The Pearl Ballet" sung by James Burrows, danced by Beth Laemmle and the Albertina Rasch ballet
 * "The Dance of the Sea", an "underwater" dance performed by Buster Keaton
 * "Lon Chaney's Gonna Get You If You Don't Watch Out" sung by Gus Edwards
 * "The Adagio Dance" with the Natova Company
 * "Romeo and Juliet" (in two-color Technicolor) with John Gilbert and Norma Shearer, with Lionel Barrymore as director
 * "Singin' in the Rain" introduced by Cliff Edwards, with The Brox Sisters
 * "Charlie, Gus, and Ike" with Charles King, Gus Edwards, and Cliff Edwards
 * "Marie, Polly, and Bess" with Marie Dressler, Polly Moran, and Bessie Love
 * "Orange Blossom Time" (in two-color Technicolor), sung by Charles King to Myrtle McLaughlin, danced by the Albertina Rasch Ballet Company
 * "Singin' in the Rain" (finale) (in two-color Technicolor), sung by entire cast

Reception
The film, which was shot in 25 days with a budget of US$426,000, was popular with audiences and critics alike, especially in its initial big-city engagements. "Brimming over with good fun and catchy music", Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times wrote. Variety called it "the top novelty film to be turned out to date....If the theater booths give it an even break, nothing can stop it." Film Daily reported, "A smash and a wow. Smart revue with plenty of comedy beautifully dressed and a cast that is gilt-edged." John Mosher of The New Yorker called it "the most extravagant and extensive musical comedy so far presented by the talking pictures, and is in itself a complete evening's entertainment."

The film went on to make a profit of $1.1 million and was considered for the Academy Award for Best Picture (there were no official nominations at that point in Motion Picture Association of America history). Producer Rapf tried to follow it up with another revue, The Hollywood Revue of 1930, which was changed during production to The March of Time, and finally abandoned. Musical numbers already shot for the film were edited into M-G-M short subjects of the early 1930s.

Alternate version
Some sources list the original running time of Hollywood Revue of 1929 as 130 minutes. At least two sequences in the original roadshow version are missing from current prints: an opening recitation by the showgirls who are seen posing in the "Hollywood Revue" sign after the opening credits, and the appearance of Nils Asther, who assisted Jack Benny in introducing the final "Orange Blossom" number.

Preservation
The film survives intact with its original Technicolor sequences. It was released on laserdisc in the 1990s from MGM/UA Home Video, and on DVD in 2009 through the Warner Archive Collection.

title: The Hollywood Revue