Bagheria

Coordinates: 38°04′49″N 13°30′31″E / 38.08028°N 13.50861°E / 38.08028; 13.50861
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Bagheria
Baarìa (Sicilian)
Città di Bagheria
Fishing boats in Aspra
Fishing boats in Aspra
Coat of arms of Bagheria
Location of Bagheria
Map
UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
90011
Dialing code091
Patron saintSan Giuseppe
Saint dayMarch 19
WebsiteOfficial website

Bagheria (Italian pronunciation: [baɡeˈriːa]; Sicilian: Baarìa [baːˈɾiːa]) is a city and comune in the Metropolitan City of Palermo in Sicily, located approximately 10km to the east of the city centre.

Etymology

According to some sources, the name Bagheria (by way of old Sicilian Baarìa) originates from the Phoenician term Bayharia meaning "land that descends toward the sea." Other sources claim that it derives from the Arabic Bāb al-Gerib, or "windy gateway." However, the most plausible explanation is that it derives from Arabic بحرية baḥrīyah, meaning 'of the sea, marine'.[citation needed]

History

Since its founding, the town has gone by the names of Bayharia, Baharia, and Baarìa. In 1658

Viceroy of Sicily, built a large villa and established the region as the preferred location for the vacation homes of Palermo's elites. Villas like the fortified Villa San Marco (designed by Andrea Cirrincione) with angled bastions and a drawbridge soon followed. The area experienced a boom in villa building roughly coinciding with the period of Savoyard (1713–21) and Habsburg (1721–30) rule and continuing for several decades thereafter. The two most striking baroque residences, Villa Valguarnera and Villa Palagonia were designed by the architect Tommaso Napoli in 1712 and 1715 respectively. Both were completed only decades later. Napoli had been influenced by his experiences in Rome and Vienna and this is reflected in his designs. Other architects and clients like Giuseppe Mariani and the Prince of Aragona also looked to prints of Roman exemplars when constructing the Villa Aragona (now Cutò) in 1714.[3]

By 1763, tastes were changing. The Villa Villarosa, supervised by the young G. V. Marvuglia, was directly modeled on more neoclassical plans published by Jean-François de Neufforge in 1760.[4] In 1769, one of the descendants of the original Prince of Butera redesigned his estate into a well-planned town, allowing him to collect rents from the inhabitants. Bagheria was a preferred stopping point for Europeans pursuing the Grand Tour in Sicily including Patrick Brydone, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Soane, Karl Friedrich Schinkel and many others.[5]

In the 20th and 21st centuries, the Baroque and Neoclassical architecture of Bagheria was largely obscured by unregulated building.

Main sights

Aspra (Bagheria) natural arch

Religion

Although the official

fireworks display
.

Culture and notable people

Bagheria was the birthplace of many well-known 20th century figures: poet Ignazio Buttitta, politician Michelangelo Galioto, photographer Ferdinando Scianna, artists Renato Guttuso and Nino Garajo (1918—1977, Rome), gangster Joe Aiello, and film director Giuseppe Tornatore. Tornatore portrayed his love for his town in the multiple award-winning film

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso in 1989 and the 2009 film Baarìa
, featuring the history of the town from the 1930s to the 1980s through the life of a local family.

The town is also depicted in The Godfather Part III.[6]

Bagheria is the setting of Dacia Maraini's eponymous autobiographical work.[7]

Diego D'Amico (1893-1947), who represented the Christian Democrats in the Constituent Assembly of Italy from 1946 to 1947, was from Bagheria.

References

  1. ^ "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  3. ^ A. Belvedere, Il Palazzo Cutò di Bagheria (Palermo 1995)
  4. ^ E.H. Neil, "Architects and architecture in 17th & 18th century Palermo," in Annali di Architettura n.7 (1995) pp.159-176.
  5. ^ P.Brydone, A Tour through Sicily and Malta (London 1773)
  6. ^ "Film locations for The Godfather Part 3". Movie-locations.com. Archived from the original on 2017-12-20. Retrieved 2011-04-09.
  7. ^ "Bagheria".

External links