Terrasini, Sicily, Italy Page

In the Country of Italy

On the Island of Sicily

A Town and Province of Palermo

TERRASINI,SICILY

Terrasini is located 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Palermo at the motorway between Palermo and Trapani, between the mountains and the Gulf of Castellammare near the Palermo International Airport

The name of Terrasini derives from the nearby promontory of Capo Rama, which, with Capo San Vito opposite, forms the big Gulf of Castellammare, the ancient "Sinus Aegestanus": precisely from the nearby gulf the territory began to be called "Terra Sinus", which then became Terrasini. A chain of low mountains surrounds the town of Terrasini, which lies in a picturesque basin sloping down towards the sea. The populous town, probably of late medieval origin, was a feudal domain of the princes of Carini of the La Grua Talamanca house, which at the beginning of the 18'h century had purchased from Baron Donato Gazzara this wild territory.

The municipal history of Terrasini started in 1836 with the unification of the two neighbouring villages of Terrasini and Favarotta, in the first stretch of the gulf, dominated by the Capo Rama tower. Today the Capo Rama promontory has been declared a nature reserve because of the richness and variety of its flora and avifauna. The oldest nucleus of the town, with a regular layout, is arranged in long blocks of low white houses, aligned along straight and clean streets, all converging towards the sea. In this context there stands out the monumental parish church and the two eighteenth-century palazzos that belonged to the princes of Carini, feudal seigniors of Terrasini until the early 19th century: Palazzo La Grua, which was recently restructured, today houses the Town Hall of Terrasini, while Palazzo Cataldi preserves the original characteristics of an eighteenth-century noble palazzo.

A place once half agricultural (behind it there is still a fertile hinterland on which covered by vine- yards and olive trees) and half maritime, today Terrasini is above all a seaside village and tourist resort of international fame. Besides the natural beauties of the area, Capo Rama and the coast, Terrasini affords opportunities for beautiful walks and excursions; for instance, to the Perciata cave, where in the eighteenth century the abbot Meli went to compose his poems. We must also mention the Cala Rossa area with unusual sedimentary rocks in which one can read the geological history of the territory.

Special thanks to the Commune de Terrasini for the above description of Terrasini