Trapani

Historical summary (until the Vespro war)

Placed in the northern western point of Western Sicily, it leans towards the Mediterranean with its sickle shape from which its name derives.
We can' t say much about the configuration of Trapani during the more ancient times, as they haven' t found meaningful archaeological remainings. But it is logic to affirm that, if not its origin, for sure its development or its decadence trough the centuries ,are related to its harbour.
Born on some outcropped rocks, in the San Pietro zone and in the highest part of the city near the San Domenico church, Trapani is first named historically by Diodoro Siculo. He speaks about the Roman and Punic fights to conquer its harbour, about the Peliade nowadays called Colombaia castle, about the obliged transfer of some people from Erice to Trapani carried out by the Carthaginian Amilcare and about a strenghtening of its defences. Under the Romans it became "Cives censoria" and its name changed in Drepanum=sickle. Under the Arabs it was named Tarabanis (Amari, 1880/81).After one thousands years of silence, during the Norman Age we find two descriptions of the city in the first half of XII century by Edrisi, an Arab traveller and geographer and by Ibn Jubair thirty years later. For the first one it was a city "... With very old and primitive origins, standing above the sea which surrounds it complety, only a bridge on the eastern side allows to reach the city from the land.The harbour is in the southern part: a quiet harbour, where many ships spend their winter, being protect from all the windsIn this harbour many fishes are caught, among which the tuna in very big quantities, more than it is necessary for the population, through a system of big nets. A valuable kind of coral is also fished. Right in front of the city, there is a salt-pan. The place is large and fit for agricolture, from which a lot of products and richness are derived.Trapani has easy commercial relationships with other places and offers many ways to earn one's living." Thirty years later Ibn Jubair described the city in this way: "...this city has not got a lot of space, it's not big, it's walled, it is white as a dove. Its harbour is one of the most beautiful and comfortable for the ships. Here you can find market-places, baths and a lot of other comfortable places...The city is surrounded by the sea from three sides and only from one side it is linked to the land through a very narrow place.". Even nowadays in Casalicchio quarter it's possible to find an Arab system of streets with two kinds of walking streets: the big ones (shari) and the quarter streets (darb) with two "cul de sac" (azziqqa) branches and some houses with courtyards. In 1077 the Normans reached Trapani, Sicily, Calabria and Puglia became part of the new "Sicilian Reign" under Ruggero II. The Normans introduced Christianity, large estate and aristocratic titles. This took to the development of the extensive farming and to a concentration of the rural population in the big villages.This change became more and more important later, because racism grew against the Arabs and many of them who were peasants, escaped from the island. The Crusades (1096-1274) were economically important for the city, because the knightly orders made many buildings. Many Italian and foreigneir merchants came to live in Trapani and many cunsulates of the different nations were created. Nowadays nothing remains of the Norman buildings. During the Norman Age Trapani kept its commercial relations with the other sea cities, but , notwithstanding this fact, the economical situation got worse because of the kingdom monopoly of salt and decrease in agricolture caused by the escape of the Arabs from Sicily because of racism. During this period, a new and very important event was the first mendicant orders arrival in the city. Frederick II's death in 1250 took to a Sicilian social, economical and political worsening. After long years of civil fights, Charles D'Angio became the new king of Sicily, giving life to the Angevin period that was very short because of the Vespri Revolution in 1282 that took to the separation of Sicily from the Southern Reign which remained a D'Angio's possesions. From the revolution derived the Comunitas Siciliae, a little first kind of parliament, following the exemple offered by the other Italian councils. But this first experiment of a Sicilian state had to fail because of the feudal, the Pope and the Angevin reactions. So Peter the III of Aragon, crowned in Palermo, also became King of Sicily,and the island became Spanish.The following period was marked by the fights betwee the Crown and the Barons, who became more and more politically important not only in the cities, but also in the feudal system. Trapani had a different situation from the other Sicilian cities, Its economy was based on the harbour activities more than on the feudal agricoltural system. . Its main social class was represented not only by the nobles, but also by the middle class. So that there were some among the most important families of the city who also dealt with piracy, for which Trapani was a very important starting place. At the end of the XIV century James the II of Aragon decided to make the city larger (1286) and this took to the building of the new city walls. These last ones included the old city square and enlarged the city towards the west and the north where some rocks and little islands had to be reclaimed. Some religious orders and foreign consulates were there. A new street called "Rua Grande" (c.so Vittorio Emanuele) was build at the centre of the new district. While in the northern part "Rua Nova " was created (via Garibaldi), giving name to a new district and the southern part was enlarged. There was a small enlargement in the southern part too. There wasn¹t an immediate lotting of the areas after the building of the new walls,;. Only in 1400 ther will be a system of urbanisation of the new zones and the city will be divided in five districts. Two of them belonged to the oldest part: one was called "Casalicchio"(later called Saint Peter) because of the little houses, the other was called "Di Mezzo"(which meant between) because of its position (later Saint Nicola). Three of them represented the new city expansion: "Rua Nuova" in the north, "S. Lorenzo" and "S. Francesco" in the west; these two last ones made the "Quartiere Palazzo" district, so called maybe for the presence of elegant buildings. As the new excavations would confirm, James the II should have strenghtened the Terra castle and the tower of the Colombaia castle (Vultaggio-Terranova-in course of publishing). From 1500 on the walls will be strenghtened and the towers will be substituted by more modern systems of defences. In Trapani the XIV century buildings have elements of the so called Sicilian Chiaramontano Style. Its main feature is a closure towards external trends, also the international Gothic and a new popular usage of the Arab-norman tradititon. Only some fragments remain of the 1300 buildings in Trapani: some parts of S. Domenico and S. Agostino and the remaining of a building -maybe Palazzo Chiaramonte- that the Chiaramonte family may have built in the heart of the old city in that place called for centuries "Steri island", in Sette Dolori street. The flowery frame rose-windows, the ogival two and three mullioned windows and the portal with cloverleaf and saw-toothed decorations are particularly important in the noble palace. The king Ludovico took possession of the palace and " made it lower and gave it to some of his favourite people of his reign". The Chiaramonte family brought the water from Erice to Trapani. The fountain was near to S. Agostino church, already a place of arrival of the so called "mageslana" water.. In XIV century the building activity in Trapani was strenghtened by the mendicants' buildings. In 1289 the S. Domenico order obtained the place where there was the Virgin Mother Mary little church, that starting from 1500 was called S. Domenico. King James declared it Royal Chapel. Trapani was one of the centres of the Vespro War and many defence builduings in and out of the city were built in this period (Colombaia walls, some coast and inner towers...)

SOME MONUMENTS

At the extreme point of the city there is the majestic Ligny Tower , a watchtower built in 1671, where now there is a little Prehistorical Museum. In the surroundings, on an island near to the harbour, stands the extraordinary Colombaia Castle, where the stratigraphy reading and the restauretion have been recently started.
Walking through the streets of the historical centre, one can feel the various cultural stratifications which left many signs in the urban, architectural and monumental context in the city.
Some exemplas are the Jewish district, with the Giudecca Palace; the Casalicchio district, the oldest part of the city, with its Arabian labyrinth of little streets. Mainly historically and artistically important are the "Platereschi" portals and the Baroque churches, decorated in that peculiar style called Trapani "Barocchitto". For this style the coloured local marbles are used, in particular the one called "Mischio" of Trapani or those ones taken from the Cofano mountain caves. A very beautiful collection of coral works is saved in the Pepoli Museum which is in the old Carmelitani monastery , next to the Annunziata Sanctuary.