PACECO

The Paceco council territory, (58,4 kil 2) has got all the geo-morphological elements which are characteristics of Western Sicily. Beyond the lagoon area of the Salt pans, the land rises slightly until a group of quaternary sand stone lands which are about 60 mt slm high. After this place, sweet slopes and short hills are features of Trapani hinterland.
Paceco is shaped as an excellent right-angled grid (Firpo L.1975) and is among the hundreds villages in Sicily. It was totally built during the XVII century in the same way as the Renaissance's cities with their right-angled quarters, large panoramic squares, Baroque churches and one castle which was situated on the main road nearby the centre. At present, the castle is totally destroyed because of the last years' building speculations. The new building of the rural village was largerly supported by the Spanish monarchy, which wanted to solve some typical problems of the island, such as the malarial fever and the country's depopulation which were typical in Sicilian old times. The building of Central Paceco began in March 1607, thanks to Placido Fardella's will. He was a very young and noble man and was the heir of one of the most ancient families living in Trapani. He come to Sicily during Emperor Frederick's times. The Spanish monarchy gave noble people remarkable reductions if they built towns and also gave them new noble titles if they supported the peasants' moving from the other centres of the island. In such a way the Spanish supported the island aristocracy. The new rural village had the name of the noble and very catholic Placido Fardella's wife. Her name was Maria Pacheco and she he was Juan Fernander's niece. Juan Fernandez was the viceroy in Sicily and the Marquis in Villena. Two years later, Philip Placido Fardella the title of Prince of Paceco. The peasants got franchise, immunity, right of sanctuary, a house and perpetual lease lands. Anyway, people had been living in that land since pre-historical times. This fact is supported by the archaeological ruins which have been remarked both in expert-literature and in the popular one. There are tracks of the Pebble Culture of the early paleolithic period and there are also the stone factories at Baiata Valley and at Verderame River. At the borders of the actual centre, at Sciarotta and Malummeri, you can still visit the rocky winding paths where men lived in the Paleolithic and Neolithic age. They are rich of flintstone-potsherds and remainings of pottery which support the Stentinello's culture (J.B. Marconi 1941). A collection of these materials is kept in the local Pre-Historical Museum. Maybe the Punics lived there. This idea is supported by the discovery of a little clay statue which represents God Bes. At present the statue is kept at the Pepoli Museum in Trapani.An under-rock shelter has been recently discovered in Dattilo (Filippi-Zammarano, Trapani, private publishing, 1995) and published later by S. Tusa on (1992, Sic. arch. n°78-79) a prehistoric-archaic site near the stream Verderame Along the same river, during the KALAT school, seven prehistorical sites have been discovered. Besides, a large Roman area o is well known at Cipponeri , in Trapani district even if it is very close to central Paceco. Over there, one imperor Caracalla's head has been found and also a Ionic Sicilian capital. Besides, there are some groves and several coins. -Two new, always Roman sites have been found inside Kalat archaeological excavations. Among them there is an Ellenistic farm . Toponimy leads us to the research of Manzil (an Arab rural village) since there is the place name of Misiligiafar which is still unknown. So far, it has been considered the Torrearsa building which belonged to the Fardella's family. This idea would not be valid anymore if we consider the results of the works made during the Kalat plain. In the same area of Villa Torrearsa, there is neither pottery nor so early ruins. According to a new idea, Manzil could be a village which was situated in the same area of Paceco. A medieval castle has been recently discovered (G. Vultaggio, Relation for Paceco district). It was situated on the top of Timpone Castellazzo, and was destroyed by Roberto D'Angiò at the beginning of the XIV century. This idea is supported by Pugnatore. Now, the 'Turrazza' at Torrearsa is in a phase of restructuring it was probaly built before the XVI century even though the few potteries, which have been discovered during Kalat 95', and the style of the tower ( G.Vultaggio - Analisi stratigrafiche murarie alla Turrazza di Torrearsa - unpublished), let us understand it was built at the end of the XVI century or at the beginning of the XVII century. Apart the development of the Paceco village, in the XVIII century we can take note of a remarkable development in agricolture. It was due to a new economic and social calm after the Moorish defeat and the new laws about the share of the large estates, those laws gave a new input to agricolture. We can see the great deal of formal and stylistic elements of that period if we look at the large number of bagli,(rural houses) which support that development. A right-angled perimeter is characteristic of those rural buildings which consist of a central courtyard surrounded by rooms. Besides, a very large number of suburban villas as summer residences had been built since XIX century.