Picture of one side
Sperlinga Castle: “Quod Siculis placuit, sola Sperlinga negavit.”
16 August 2022 - Categorie: Travel Tips, The places of the heart, Cultural tourism Tags:
Sperlinga Castle is a characteristic fortress located in the town of the same name in the province of Enna, in the wonderful Sicilian hinterland every year, a destination for thousands of tourists from all over the world.
The location of the castle, in the inner part of the island, also offers you an excellent starting point for your journey to explore Sicily: from here you can easily reach the Villa Romana del Casale and Granfonte, Catania with its wonderful Etna Park and the Ursino Castle, the less famous but absolutely fascinating Nebrodi Park, Taormina and its spectacular Greek Theatre.
Not extremely distant, and therefore absolutely not to be missed, is also one of the most coveted tourist-seaside villages for international and national tourism: Cefalù. And maybe in this area you can stay, after a long day of discovery and of a Mediterranean taste, in one of our fantastic properties with spectacular views over the city and the sea.
Sicily is full of places to visit, beaches to experience and seaside towns rich of restaurants serving fresh fish but when you walk inland it seems almost more difficult to choose what to visit: in this regard we would like to highly recommend the Sperlinga Castle.
Starting from the village which emanates an exclusive beauty with its narrow streets, architecture, unprecedented views and its beautiful houses carved into the rock and with masonry facades. No less characteristic is the dialect spoken in those parts: Gallo-Italic, evidence of the settlement of a community of Lombards in the twelfth century.
The beginning of the construction of the castle dates back to between the 11th and 12th centuries under the Normans. The historian Michele Amari in "The Sicilian Vespers War" found documents that support the thesis of the Angevin soldiers in Sperlinga led by Petro de Alemanno or Lemanno who resisted the siege of the Aragonese army for a year from 1283. The castle at the time was owned by Petro de Lemanno and therefore the soldiers of Charles I of Angio found refuge there.
The location of the castle, in the inner part of the island, also offers you an excellent starting point for your journey to explore Sicily: from here you can easily reach the Villa Romana del Casale and Granfonte, Catania with its wonderful Etna Park and the Ursino Castle, the less famous but absolutely fascinating Nebrodi Park, Taormina and its spectacular Greek Theatre.
Not extremely distant, and therefore absolutely not to be missed, is also one of the most coveted tourist-seaside villages for international and national tourism: Cefalù. And maybe in this area you can stay, after a long day of discovery and of a Mediterranean taste, in one of our fantastic properties with spectacular views over the city and the sea.
Sicily is full of places to visit, beaches to experience and seaside towns rich of restaurants serving fresh fish but when you walk inland it seems almost more difficult to choose what to visit: in this regard we would like to highly recommend the Sperlinga Castle.
Starting from the village which emanates an exclusive beauty with its narrow streets, architecture, unprecedented views and its beautiful houses carved into the rock and with masonry facades. No less characteristic is the dialect spoken in those parts: Gallo-Italic, evidence of the settlement of a community of Lombards in the twelfth century.
The beginning of the construction of the castle dates back to between the 11th and 12th centuries under the Normans. The historian Michele Amari in "The Sicilian Vespers War" found documents that support the thesis of the Angevin soldiers in Sperlinga led by Petro de Alemanno or Lemanno who resisted the siege of the Aragonese army for a year from 1283. The castle at the time was owned by Petro de Lemanno and therefore the soldiers of Charles I of Angio found refuge there.
Stairway
At sunset
It is said that the fugitive soldiers, who disguised themselves among the islanders, were discovered thanks to a linguistic device: they were asked to pronounce the word "ceci" (pronunciation / 'ʧeʧi / in Italian) which, due to phonetic characteristics of the French language, was pronounced by the soldier "se-see" who was then discovered and immediately eliminated.
On the second door of the castle we read “quod Siculis placuit, sola Sperlinga negavit” that is “What was established by the Sicilians, only Sperlinga denied it” which refers to the fact that the city was the only one not to participate in the anti-French riots of the Vespers. Among the common people, in fact, the solitary type who did not bond with peers was called sperlinga.
On the second door of the castle we read “quod Siculis placuit, sola Sperlinga negavit” that is “What was established by the Sicilians, only Sperlinga denied it” which refers to the fact that the city was the only one not to participate in the anti-French riots of the Vespers. Among the common people, in fact, the solitary type who did not bond with peers was called sperlinga.
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