Collesano

Collesano (Sicilian: Culisanu) is a small town in the Province of Palermo, Sicily. It is situated roughly 70 kilometres (43 miles) from the provincial capital of Palermo. It lies on the Madonie's Park between the hills and the Tirrenian see and is also famous to be crossed by the Targa Florio Circuit since the beginning (1906). Actually the town owns the official Targa Florio Museum. The millenary history of Collesano belongs also to the history of old inhabitants of Sicily called "Sicani", people coming from Spain, and later to the town of Imera, country of the poetry Stesichorous, the old Greek town founded by Calcidide (Eubea Island) inhabitants and destroyed by Annibale in 408 B.C. About Collesano tells the Arab geograph Al Idrisi when he described in "The Roger's book" the destruction of the town Qal-at-as-Sirat situed on the top of Golden Mountin by the Norman king Ruggero II. After the town has been rebuilt in the neighbourhoods and has been called Bagherino. In the Middle Age Collesano began a count and changed this name in Golisano and after in Collesano. Many aristocratic families have been succeeded in the government of the town such as the countess Adelicia de Alife, nephew of the Norman king Ruggero II; the count of Avenel; the Ventimiglia's; the Cicala's; the Centelles's; the de Folch Cardona; the Aragona; the de Moncada's; the Ferrandina. Many the monuments to visit: the ruins of the Norman castle, the old ceramic manufacture, the Cathedral of St. Peter, the churches of St. Mary "the Old", St. James, St. Sebastian and Fabian, St. Dominic or St. Mary "the New", of St. Mary of Jesus, the Pedaly's Abbey and the Targa Florio's Museum that many oldtimer car clubs reach for a stop during their event on the Madonie' Circuit. Collesano is also famous for its ceramics artwork and the Mystery Plays: la "Cercha" a procession with the Penitentes organized every year in the Holy Week and la "Casazza" the "Cycle of Collesano" that has been represented in the last century five times. International relations Twin towns – Sister cities Collesano is twinned with: Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland Sources External links Collesano details (English) Bibliography: Settimana Santa in Sicilia - La Cercha di Collesano -ISBN... by Kaori Sakurada-Giuseppe Valenza - Qanat publishing (Palermo)