"Balestrate a wonderful pl ..." a Balestrate Travel Page by Propermark

Balestrate (ZIP code 90041) is located 138 Km. from Agrigento, 196 Km. from Caltanissetta, 303 Km. from Catania, 215 Km. from Enna, 303 Km. from Messina, 44 Km. from Palermo, which it belongs to, 274 Km. from Ragusa, 345 Km. from Siracusa, 55 Km. from Trapani.

Balestrate counts 6.180 inhabitants. It rises on a level ground, at 38 metres over the sea.

The municipality is located in via Roma, tel. 091-8786145 fax. 091-8787355.

Lively bathing resort, Balestrate is also an agricultural centre, important to the development is the production of vegetables, olives, citrus cultivation and fruit: particularly important is Greenhouse.

Formerly the name of the city was Sicciara, from sicilian dialect Siccia, nominated thus for the abundance of cuttlefish on the coastal seas. In 1307 King Federico III d'Aragona ceded to Partinico countrytown Balestrate territory, reserving to monarchy the state property right along the littoral zone for a depth equal to one crossbow shot (balestra in Italian), which the name derives from.
In 1762 Rosalia Leto gave the uncultivated lands to the farmers obliging them to cultivate, so the village started to grow: it became an autonomous municipality after 1829. During the following years it kept developing further, thanks to the estabilishment of oenological factories of Ingham family, of Woodhouse' and the Florio's.

In the monumental field we remember the Chiesa Madre built in 1843 and Calatubo Castle, a Byzantine stronghold sited on the top of a cliff. It was later rebuilt by the Arabs.

Volano le vele

sull'acqua azzurra

imitano gli uccelli dalle grandi ali

che agili incontrano venti d'altura.

scritto da Jole Romeo

Translation

"Sails"

Sails fly

over the bluish water

they look like the big winged birds

that nimbly they meet high winds.