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Archeoclub
d'Italia – The
history of Gela
Text
by Nuccio Mulè - Translation by Giovanni Pizzati
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1.
From the protohistory to the foundation
2.
From Gela to Terranova
3.
From Terranova to Gela
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From
the protohistory to the foundation of Greek
Gela.
The
most ancient traces of life, discovered till today
in Gela territory and in its neighbourhood, date
back to the end of Neolithic, that is around the
4th millennium before Christ’s birth.
The
protohistoric populations of Gela territory become
fixed firstly in the immediate vicinity of the sea,
with the Greek settlement, they were pushed into
the hinterland, northwards to the mountains where
they made up some rocky strongholds.
Around
689 B.C., a group of Greek settlers, coming from
the islands of Rhodes and Crete, led respectively
by Anthiphemos
and Enthimos,
landed from their vessels near Gela River; they
erected a town that they named first Lindioi, then
Gela after a number of decades, just as the name
of the river.
In
580 B.C, a colony of Geloans, guided by Pysthilos
and Aisthonoos, founded the sub-colony of Akragas,
corresponding to the present Agrigentum, which got
independence after ten years.
Moreover,
we know that, during that time, the first form of
government was the Doric one, made with an
oligarchic government, which lasted until 505 B.C.,
year when Cleandros Pathareos knocked it down and
assumed the title of Tyrant (“Lord of the town),
the first tyrant of Gela history. Cleandros’s
rule lasted about seven years, till 498 B.C. year
when a Geloan named Sabellos aiming to give the
lost freedom to the town murdered him.
Hippocrates
succeeded to his brother Cleandros. After he
strengthened his own power, he set himself the
goal to bring to a conclusion, the grand plan
conceived by the Geloan community, that is the
establishment of a large State with Gela as
Metropolis.
Hippocrates
died in 491 B.C. after reigning through seven
years; under his rule, Gela achieved its splendour
and power. It was rich and flourishing above any
else town in Sicily, admired and feared by all.
Euclid and Cleandros took over the kingdom of Gela
from their father Hippocrates. As minors, they had
Hielo’s
guardianship and protection. Hielo, kept the
regency of the government in their name for two
years until the time when on the pretext of the
disagreement and dissent of the people, he took
upon himself the tyranny with a coup d’état by
usurping the legitimate power in this way.
In
485 B.C., Hielo examined the right time for waging
war against Syracuse, which opened him its gates
after suffering a short siege. So this town
welcomed him as a peacemaker. After taking upon
himself the provisional government of Syracuse,
Hielo left Gela to his brother Hiero, after
depriving it of its best citizens with all their
wealth, he never again looked after Gela. Hiero,
tyrant of Gela succeeded to his brother Hielo in
Syracuse and his dominion of Gela passed to his
brother Polizelos. Gela gave hospitality to
eminent men and noble talents in the field of
literature and arts; certainly, the great Athenian
tragedian Aeschylus
was one of those personalities. He spent the last
years of his life in Gela.
In
the second half of the 5th century B.C., Gela got
rid of Polizelos’ tyranny and ruled itself with
a democratic government, but we do not know either
the political or the economic system involved.
In
405 B.C., the Carthaginian army commanded by
Himilcon, back from the victory over Agrigentum,
stormed and destroyed Gela. The town suffered from
tremendous damages although Dionysius ‘s help
from Syracuse, who arranged a non-belligerence
agreement with the Carthaginians themselves.
In
the second half of the 4th century B.C. the
domination of Syracuse passed to Timoleon, who was
also a politician and a Corinthian general. He
freed Sicily from tyranny and foreign yoke.
But
the period of prosperity was broken off because of
Agathocles’s actions, tyrant of Syracuse, who
resumed the fight against the Carthaginians.
Long
after Iceta (tyrant of Leontinis and new master of
Syracuse) and Phintias (tyrant of Agrigentum)
entered into disagreement amongst themselves and
the Geloans were the ones who were penalized for
that in 282 B.C., besides Iceta who was defeated.
The Geloans saw their own town fired and razed to
the ground and then forced by the victor Phintias,
irony of fate, to move to the mouth of Himera
River (the present Salso River), where was erected
the town of Phintiades, today’s Licata.
The
small remains of Gela, not long after, were
plundered and completely destroyed by the
Mamertines, mercenary adventurers from Campania,
perhaps allied with the victor Phintias himself.
After
the destruction of Gela in 282 B.C. by Phintias
and the Mamertines, “ a long night of silence”
is hanging over its ruins since more than one
millennium.
The
arrival of Romans at Sicily, datable 264 B.C., was
requested by the Mamertines for stopping the siege
against them at Messina by the Carthaginians and
the Syracuse people. With the 1st Punic War
(264-241 B.C.), Rome not only dealt a decisive
blow to the Carthaginian power, but also took
possession of Sicily in a practical way. So Sicily
was declared “province” (that is defeated
country).
Around
the half of the 5th century A.D., Sicily endured
several incursions by the Vandals, who, after that
they become fixed in the western coast and
therefore probably also in the Campi Geloi (the
Geloans Fields), could seize the whole Island in
468 and then kept this territory until 476. In
491, the Goths conquered Sicily under the command
of Theodoric. Between the 5th and the 6th century
A.D., we have a indefinable revitalization
throughout the Gela Plain, even if not yet
reaching any urban settlements, with the
re-appearance of some little landing places and
small built-up areas like the one of Manfria; in
addition, the presence of farms and modest
agricultural villages in Gela hinterland and also
on its hill, some banked rise or some low hill
emerging among the swamps or the woodlands. All
that might be referred to the “massa quae
dicitur Gelas” (from an epistle of Pope Gregory
The Great) belonging to the Plaga Calvisianis
quoted by the Itinerarium Antonini.
Between
535 and 878 A.D., years of beginning and end of
the Eastern Roman Empire domination in the Island,
Byzantine populations lived in Gela territory and
the little St. Blaise's Church inside the
Monumental Cemetery, most likely is an evidence of
it. The Arabian domination followed the domination
of Byzantium and the Norman domination from 1061
up to the Swabian domination.
We
can place the Arabian domination of Gela territory
astride the 9th and 11th centuries, particularly,
the Arabians landed in Sicily on the 7th of June
827 being called by Euphemious, a Byzantine
renegade in disagreement with Constantinople;
Butera became the pivot of their presence in Gela
territory, because from this fortified town, the
control and the rule over the Plain were assured;
in 1099, the Normans came, but they took it by
force just leaving from Gela, their stronghold. So
one of the last bulwarks of the Arabian domination
in the Island fell down, even though it was not
supplanted straight away, because it was
higher-level and widespread.
The
last decades of the Arabian domination in Sicily
were stained with blood because of some civil wars
among the Muslims themselves that split up into
three factions; that favoured, within the space of
thirty years, the capture of the Island by the
Normans with Roger, called by Thumma for defending
himself from his opponents. With the Norman
conquest, a transformation process of the country
planning and re-allocation of the population on
the territory set out; this continued up to all
the 12th century and Frederic II intervened on it
and gave it the distinguishing marks that will be
kept even later, in their essential aspects till
the start of the colonization process occurred in
late 16th and 17th centurie
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2.
From Gela to Terranova.
During
the Swabian domination of the German dynasty of Hohenstaufen
Frederic II (succeeded in the Kingdom of Sicily to Constance of
Hauteville and Henry IV) pursued a policy either of economic
development of agriculture or the achievement of military works in
economic areas unprotected. In 1233, he got a castle built up in
the Eastern area of Gela (castrum federicianum), which he
named Terra Nuova (later Terranova, New Land). Thus around
that castle the town rose probably on an outline similar to the
Greek one, even though some recent studies refer to a medieval
system. Moreover, we do not know since when the town of Terranova
took also the name of Heraclea, maybe deriving from the
legend that attributed the building of a town on the hill to the
mythical Hercules; but likely Heraclea began to coexist with
Terranova.
Terranova,
garrisoned and defended with fortifications, equipped short later
with a landing-place (the Reale Caricatoio – Royal Loading Place)
for commodities and goods trade, past some decades, became the
second most densely populated centre of Eastern Sicily, only
preceded by Messina and followed at a long distance by towns such
as Catania, Caltagirone and Syracuse.
After
that Frederic II passed away in 1250, his son Conrad IV succeeded
to him. Then he died just at the age of twenty-seven, leaving the
regency of the kingdom to Manfred, because his son Conradin, heir
to the throne, was just two years old. From this period of time
on, Terranova followed the same destiny of so many towns in the
Island; we recall, in particular, its participation to the
Sicilian Vespers in 1282, a bloody and furious revolution of
people against the fierce and unpopular oppression of Charles of
Anjou that the French pope Clemens IV had enfeoffed with the
Kingdom of Sicily.
Later
the Island, in order to ward off the danger of an Angevins’
return, offered the crown to Peter III, king of Aragon, succeeded
by Frederic III, the last great king of Sicily. Past Frederic III,
the Island history clouded in a frightening way as far as the loss
of its independence, passing first under the domination of the
Aragoneses and then under the Spanish one, which lasted, alas,
three centuries (from 1412 to 1713) weighing on the Island with a
hard regime based on privileges and heavy tax-system.
In
1369, Terranova was given as fief by Frederic III, first to
Manfred of Chiaromonte, the seventh count of Modica and then as
fief and barony to Peter de Planellis; but on the 15th
of March 1396, King Martin restored it with a diploma to the royal
state property; with the same diploma, that monarch, out of
respect of the devoutness and the services done in war time by the
Terranova people, granted them and gave them the proceeds of
greens in order to repair the town walls for the purpose to guard
the town against the ruinous raids by the Turks and the
Barbaresques. In
1401, the same king, with another diploma, repealing every
previous concession, declared the whole Terranova territory as
state property and confirmed the moratorium of debts for eight
years to anybody interested to move to Terranova-Heraclea. During
the century, nevertheless the population did not increase, in
spite of the monarchs’ initiatives, either for the endemic
presence of malaria in the Plain, or for the plagues occurred
(1455 and 1465).
At
the beginning of the 16th century, Terranova passed to
the Tagliavia Aragona family after several transfers and then to
the dukes
of
Monteleone
(with
the marriage of Joan, daughter of Diego Tagliavia, with Hector
Pignatelli).
Terranova,
together with other feudal lands (Buscemi, Montalbano and Morreale),
rebelled against its own lords following the revolt of the 7th
of March 1516 against the vice-king Moncada.
In
the last decades of 1500, the town was widened westwards with the
building of a second wall belt that lasted ten years and was
completed in 1593. Meanwhile, Sicily, upset for the succession
wars, became first a Savoy possession under Victor Amadeus II and
then Austrian in 1734 with Charles of Bourbon, who subsequently in
1816 formed a large kingdom with Naples (The Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies), the largest one for extension and population that
existed in Italy; with Charles of Bourbon was inaugurated, in
Sicily, the last dynasty reigning up to the unity of Italy; but
his successors were really far from his reforming action for
relieving the conditions of the kingdom, therefore the Sicilians
rose up in arms more times claiming independence and freedom
(1820, 1837, 1848, and 1860), even if the Bourbon reaction was
ever harsh and ruthless.
In
1787, Terranova had the opportunity to free itself from the
vassalage sending a considerable sum of money to the Royal
Property Bank. One decade later, the town was afflicted by the Ribello
(Rebellion), an impressive bloody event happened on the 3rd
of February 1799; on that day, a thick group of rebels shouting
out “fire to the Jacobins”, killed several opponents of the
government and burned then their bodies in the main square. But
past three months, the chiefs of the rioters were identified,
captured and sentenced to hanging.
With
the decree of the 11th of October 1817, issued by the Sicilian
Parliament, the district of Terranova (altogether with the one of
Piazza Armerina) was upgraded to Sub-intendancy, later changed
into Sub-prefecture and included in the jurisdiction of
Caltanissetta and the latter had already become province and
district administrative centre since 1812. The Sub-prefecture of
Terranova (chief town of the district municipalities of Riesi,
Mazzarino, Butera e Niscemi) subsequently was abolished altogether
with the other ones by the Italian administration system in 1928.
During
the Bourbon domination in Sicily, Terranova took part to the
Revolts of The Risorgimento (Rebirth) and to Garibaldi’s epic
with a considerable tribute of human lives; in 1848, particularly,
maybe the only incident in all the Island, hundreds of volunteers
left from this town to fight against the Bourbon enemy as far as
Messina: their names are remembered in a plaque posted up in the
entrance of the Town Hall.
After
the union of Italy, on the 12th of September 1862, the name
Terranova was completed with the words “di Sicilia” (of Sicily),
namely: Terranova di Sicilia. This clarification was necessary in
order to differ it from other towns with the same denomination all
over Italy.
In
1893, Terranova took part actively to the Sicilian Fasces giving a
tremendous contribute to the proletarian movement, particularly,
thanks to one of its chiefs: Mario Aldisio Sammito.
In
1921, Fascism, after assuring the control of the crowd to itself
and after beating the workers’ movement, was forced to ask
itself for the problem of the State conquest, which occurred in
October of 1922 with the “March on Rome”; so Mussolini, once
he had taken upon himself the leadership of the Government,
carried out a dictatorial policy incompatible with liberal
principles; we do not recall any important occurrence during the
fascist period, except the Duce’s visit on August 1937.
On
December of the 1927, on request of the podestà (mayor) Antonio
Vacirca, the name of Terranova was changed, recovering the ancient
name of Gela, in memory of the glorious and important town of the
classical ancient times.
3.
From Terranova to Gela.
The
World War of 1939-1945 had the town of Gela as scene of decisive
events in a way for the re-conquest of freedom; exactly in July
1943, the American troops landed there and after harsh fighting,
they occupied firstly the harbour and the built-up area and then
the hinterland. After overcoming the first confusion, the Axis
fought back and the Germans in Gela nearly were about to drive the
Allies back to the sea thanks to the massive use of their Tiger
tanks. The intervention of Anglo-American Navy and Air Force saved
the fate of the first stage of the battle of Sicily.
The
fallen soldiers were 14,190 in the campaign of Sicily, subdivided
as follows: 4,678 Italians, 4,325 Germans and 5,187 Allies. Among
the about 800 Gold Medals for Military Valour of Italy given to
the heroes of all the wars, 122 were awarded to the Sicilian
servicemen; among the Gela citizens: Giovanni Guccioni (2nd
lt. of the 76th Infantry Rgt, fallen in Seltz on the 21st
of October 1915), Emanuele Guttadauro (Capt. Of the 1st
Infantry Regiment “Blue Arrows”, fallen in Barracas-Rio
Palencia on July 1938), Giulio Siracusa (Lt of the 4th
Rgt of Alpine Artillery, fallen in Nowo Postojalonka, Russian
front on the 20th of January 1943).
So
Gela was the first town of Europe to be freed. From here and other
areas of the Island, the big offensive began. This offensive had
to lead the Allies to the complete conquest of Sicily, with the
consequences that everybody knows.
From
the post-war years to the beginning of the Fifties, the town
underwent a renewal process and also a social and economic
transformation, thanks to the organizing work of Salvatore Aldisio
(1890-1964), one of the most influential children that the
century-old history of Gela ever had. During his position of
Minister in several ministries and High Commissioner for Sicily,
besides the completion of Disueri Dam, we owe him the most
important public works, such as the Town Hall, the sea-haven, St.
James’ Church,
Aldisio Village, the aqueduct, the civil hospital, the seafront
promenade, etc.
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