Lercara Friddi

Lercara Friddi rises almost at the foot of Colle Madore and its Sican archeological site, between the Landro valley and the valley of Fiumetorto and Platani. It is located on the Palermo – Agrigento route, at an average height of 670 metres above sea level.

It was founded, as part of the new cities established by the Spanish administration of King Philip II of Spain to repopulate the abandoned feudaries, with the licentia populandi of September 22, 1595 granted to Baldassarre Gomez de Amezcua; who is married to Francesca Lercaro, daughter of Leonello, had in marriage dowry the feudary of Friddi, Friddigrandi and Faverchi, dedicated to the production of wine and wheat.

Leonello Lercaro was a Genoese entrepreneur of Armenian origin who came to Sicily in 1570 in search of better luck, and thanks to whose resourcefulness the original city nucleus was created.[3] The family was Catholic, and of Greek rite, and in this fact the presence in Lercara of the icon of the Madonna of Constantinople found by the sixteen-year-old Oliva Baccarella in 1807, was justified: the graffiti effigy bearing the date of 1734 came presumably from a Lercarese church that followed the rite of the Lercari; lost for the ruin. The church, was found outdoors near a nearby stream: the popular tradition passes on that event as miraculous, from which originated the patronal feast and the church of Maria Santissima di Constantinople (which preserved the graffiti, painted at the end of the 19th century).[4]

For a long time, the major urban areas of Lercara Friddi were mainly places of worship: after the church of St. Gregory of Armenia, built by Lionello Lercaro between 1573 and 1580 in the area of Via dei Martiri, there were the church of Our Lady of the Rosary, built by Baldassarre Gomez de Amezcua between 1595 and 1604 on Pucci Street; the church of St. Anne, built by Francesca Lercaro between 1605 and 1610 on the same street of the same name; and the church of San Gregorio Traumaturgo, initially built by Raffaella Lercaro de Amezcua between 1627 and 1640 and then rebuilt several times until the early 19th century, corresponding to the upper part of Giulio Sartorio Street (all disappeared over time).

The initial development of the settlement suffered from the dangerous conditions imposed on the settlers, but it found impulsed in 1618 with the arrival of Francesco Scammacca Gravina, heir to the Lercaro barony, who in addition to residing in the nascent center favored improvements such as new roads, beverage works and additional churches. In 1708, the barony of Lercara was elevated to the rank of principality.[5]

In the book About Noble Sicily, written in 1754 by Francesco Maria Emanuele Gaetani, Lercara delli Friddi turns out to be "Baronial land with a mere and mixed empire [...] inhabited by 1536 souls, for which there are 483 houses [...] six Churches."

In 1801 the poet Giovanni Meli mentions Lercara Friddi (with the place-name of Alcara de freddi), in a passage of his reflection of the current state of the Kingdom of Sicily about agriculture and farmers:[6] "...Those few, who remain in the villages, attached to their little families, finding themselves weak, and ill-fed, or falling into rhapsodization[7] (terrible disease, first described by the cel. Linnaeus) which between weakness, and contraction takes away the use of their knees, and legs or they do not have the strength to withstand the aerial vicissitudes of autumn, or the rigors of winter, hence the frequent epidemics, which depopulate the villages, and the countryside; as we have seen in this year that in Alcara alone of the colds between the space of a few months one thousand were missing, half dead and half fled for misery, and debts. And oh the great loss, which is this to the state! [...]"

With the Sicilian Constitution of 1812 and the repeal of the feudality, Lercara Friddi was also given the title of "Free University."

It was the discovery of sulfur that changed the fortunes of the town, making it an important mining center, the only one in the province of Palermo, for the extraction and processing of Sicilian sulfur, spurring its growth from 1828. The development led to an unprecedented population increase.

In 1910, the Lercara Friddi Cemetery was moved from the main town square, to the outskirts of the city. Families who had relatives buired in the old cemetery had the opportunity to move their relatives to the new cemetery, but at the family's cost. Only a few families paid. The families that didn't pay had their relatives moved for free, but they had no tombstone, only a small stone marker.

However, after the Unity of Italy the conditions of much of the population of the Mezzogiorno (and Sicily in particular), still remained largely unsatisfactory. The Southern question saw the upsurge of brigandage, which in 1863 and 1876 also involved two members of the Rose-Gardners, who were kidnapped and freed upon payment of a ransom. In 1893, the year of the beginning of the crisis in the sulfur industry, several Lercarean miners complained of serious wage delays. And during the Sicilian Fasci, Lercara paid a toll of eleven victims in the Christmas Day protest.[8]

The slow decline of the sulfur economy was associated with dramatic labor conditions, particularly child and female labor, denounced by Alfonso Giordano[9] and Jessie White-Mario.[10][11] Over half a century later, they were echoed by Carlo Levi in 1951 and the journalist and poet Mario Farinella.

Symbol of the city

The coat of arms of the municipality is blazoned with gold and three bands of gold; the shield timbered by a prince's crown.

Possibly the earliest born Lercarese photographed, Giusto Favarò (1842-1919), photographed in 1877.

The Municipal Library "Giuseppe Mavaro" (Lercarese teacher and scholar of literature and municipal history) houses "Costume in the Pup," by Vito Giangrasso, and the archaeological museum.

Below is a list of the recently succeeding administrations:

• Mayor Salvatore Cangialosi (21 November 1988 – 4 June 1990), Christian Democracy.[15]
• Mayor Rosario Lo Bue (17 November 1990 – 8 May 1991), Christian Democracy. [15]

• Francesco Gioacchino Giacovelli (23 July 1991 – 28 July 1991).[15]

• Mayor Biagio Antonio Favarò (1 August 1991 – 14 November 1991), Christian Democracy. [15]

• Mayor Michelangelo Castronovo (14 November 1991 – 14 May 1993), Italian Socialist Party.[15]
• Commissioner Giovanbattista Leone (14 May 1993 – 23 November 1993).[15]

• Mayor Biagio Antonio Favarò (23 November 1993 – 11 December 1997).[15]

• Commissioner Pietro Tramuto (11 December 1997 – 25 May 1998).[15]
• Mayor Giuseppe Pasquale Ferrara (25 May 1998 – 27 May 2003).[15]
• Mayor Gaetano Licata (27 May 2003 – 11 June 2013).[15]
• Mayor Giuseppe Pasquale Ferrara (11 June 2013 – 10 June 2018).[15]

• Mayor Luciano Marino (10 June 2018 – present).[15]

Below is a list of the Archpriests of Lercara Friddi

List of Archpriests of Lercara Friddi

Portrait of Archpriest Favarò

A Lercarese Class in 1923

• Andrea Finocchiaro Aprile (1878–1964), politician
• Mauro Picone (1885–1977), mathematician
• Anthony Martin Sinatra (1892–1969), professional boxer and father of singer,Frank Sinatra (1915–1998)
• Attilio Catalano (1894–1951), the father of Guy Williams
• Lucky Luciano (1897–1962), crime boss
• Pietro Scaglione (1906–1971), magistrate
• Nicolò Nicolosi (1912–1986), football player and manager
• Pietro Lo Forte (1920–2004), musician
• Frédéric François (b. 1950), singer-composer
• Daniel Bellino-Zwicke (b. 1958), cookbook author[17]

• Official website

GRANDMA BELLINO'S COOKBOOK by Daniel Bellin Z ..

• https://www.amazon.com/Grandma-Bellinos-Italian-Cookbook-Grandmother-ebook/dp/B0128Z1BFM