Lentini
Encyclopedia
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
in the Province of Syracuse
Province of Syracuse
The Province of Syracuse is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital is the city of Syracuse.It has an area of 2,109 km², and a total population of 396,167 ....
, southeast Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
(southern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
).
History
The ancient city was founded as Leontini by colonists from NaxosNaxos (Sicily)
Naxos or Naxus , was an ancient city of Sicily, on the east coast of the island between Catana and Messana...
in 729 BC, itself a Chalcidian
Chalcis
Chalcis or Chalkida , the chief town of the island of Euboea in Greece, is situated on the strait of the Evripos at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from antiquity and is derived from the Greek χαλκός , though there is no trace of any mines in the area...
colony
Colonies in antiquity
Colonies in antiquity were city-states founded from a mother-city—its "metropolis"—, not from a territory-at-large. Bonds between a colony and its metropolis remained often close, and took specific forms...
established five years earlier.
It is virtually the only Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
settlement in Sicily not located on the coast, being some 6 miles inland. The site, originally held by the Sicels
Sicels
The Sicels were an Italic people who inhabited ancient Sicily. The Sicels gave Sicily the name it has held since antiquity, but they rapidly fused into the culture of Magna Graecia.-History:...
, was seized by the Greeks owing to its command of the fertile plain to the north. The city was reduced to subject status in 498 BC by Hippocrates of Gela
Hippocrates of Gela
Hippocrates was the second tyrant of Gela and ruled from 498 BC to 491 BC. He was the brother of Cleander and succeeded him to the throne after his death. With him, Gela began its expansion phase; Hippocrates aimed to conquer all of southeastern Sicily in order to build a great state with Gela as...
, who made his ally Aenesidemus
Aenesidemus, tyrant of Leontini
Aenesidemus , the son of Pataecus of Gela in Sicily, was made tyrant of Leontini in 498 BCE by Hippocrates of Gela after aiding the latter in his effort to conquer southeastern Sicily...
its tyrant. In 476 BC Hieron of Syracuse
Hiero I of Syracuse
Hieron I was the son of Deinomenes, the brother of Gelon and tyrant of Syracuse in Sicily from 478 to 467 BC. In succeeding Gelon, he conspired against a third brother Polyzelos. During his reign, he greatly increased the power of Syracuse...
moved the inhabitants from Catana
Catania
Catania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the homonymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy.Catania is known to have a seismic history and...
and Naxos to Leontini.
Later on, the city of Leontini regained its independence. However, as part of the inhabitants' efforts to retain that independence, they sought the intervention of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. It was mainly the eloquence of Gorgias
Gorgias
Gorgias ,Greek sophist, pre-socratic philosopher and rhetorician, was a native of Leontini in Sicily. Along with Protagoras, he forms the first generation of Sophists. Several doxographers report that he was a pupil of Empedocles, although he would only have been a few years younger...
of Leontini which led to the abortive Athenian expedition of 427 BC.
In 422 BC Syracuse supported the oligarchs against the people and received the oligarchs as citizens, the city of Leontini itself being forsaken. This led to renewed Athenian intervention, at first mainly diplomatic; but the exiles of Leontini joined the envoys of Segesta
Segesta
Segesta was the political center of the Elymian people, located in the northwestern part of Sicily, in what are now the province of Trapani and the comune of Calatafimi-Segesta....
, in persuading Athens to undertake the great Sicilian Expedition
Sicilian Expedition
The Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian expedition to Sicily from 415 BC to 413 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. The expedition was hampered from the outset by uncertainty in its purpose and command structure—political maneuvering in Athens swelled a lightweight force of twenty ships into a...
of 415 BC.
After the failure of the Expedition, Leontini became subject to Syracuse once more . The city's independence was guaranteed by the treaty of 405 BC between Dionysius
Dionysius I of Syracuse
Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder was a Greek tyrant of Syracuse, in what is now Sicily, southern Italy. He conquered several cities in Sicily and southern Italy, opposed Carthage's influence in Sicily and made Syracuse the most powerful of the Western Greek colonies...
and the Carthaginians
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
, but lost again shortly after. The city was finally stormed by Marcus Claudius Marcellus
Marcus Claudius Marcellus
Marcus Claudius Marcellus , five times elected as consul of the Roman Republic, was an important Roman military leader during the Gallic War of 225 BC and the Second Punic War...
in 214 BC.
By Roman times it seems to have been of little importance. It was destroyed by the Saracens in 848 AD, and almost totally ruined by the earthquake of 1693
1693 Sicily earthquake
The 1693 Sicily earthquake refers to a powerful earthquake that struck parts of southern Italy, notably Sicily, Calabria and Malta on January 11, 1693 around 9 pm local time. This earthquake was preceded by a damaging foreshock on January 9th...
. From the earthquake to about the middle of the 20th century, Lentini was regarded by travel writers as a malarial stop-over to Syracuse of minor historical importance.
The ancient city is described by Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
as lying in a valley between two hills, and facing north. On the western side of this valley ran a river with a row of houses on its western bank under the hill. At each end was a gate, the northern gate leading to the plain, the southern, at the upper end, leading to Syracuse. There was an acropolis on each side of the valley, lying between precipitous hills with flat tops, over which buildings had extended. The eastern hill still has the remains of a strongly fortified medieval castle, in which some writers are inclined (though wrongly) to recognize portions of Greek masonry.
Excavations were made in 1899 in one of the ravines in a Sicel necropolis of the third period—explorations in the various Greek cemeteries resulted in the discovery of some fine bronzes, notably a fine bronze lebes, now in the Berlin museum.
Main sights
Lentini's main monuments include:- The BaroqueBaroqueThe Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
Chiesa Madre Santa Maria la Cava e Sant'Alfio ("Mother Church of St. Mary of the Pit and St. Alphius"), built in 1693 by Vella da Malta. It has a basilica plan with a nave and two aisles; the three-orders façade is from the 18th century. Noteworthy is the central portal with scenes of the martyrdoms of St. Alfio, Filadelphus and Cirinus. The interior houses a Byzantine icon from the 12th century. - The church of the Santissima Trinità and San Marziano. It was built over the 16th century Palazzo La Palumba. It has a noteworthy pavement in ceramicsCeramics (art)In art history, ceramics and ceramic art mean art objects such as figures, tiles, and tableware made from clay and other raw materials by the process of pottery. Some ceramic products are regarded as fine art, while others are regarded as decorative, industrial or applied art objects, or as...
of CaltagironeCaltagironeCaltagirone is a town and comune in the province of Catania, on the island of Sicily, about 70 km southwest of Catania. It is bounded by the comuni of Acate, Gela, Grammichele, Licodia Eubea, Mazzarino, Mazzarrone, Mineo, Mirabella Imbaccari, Niscemi, Piazza Armerina, San Michele di...
(18th century), a polyptych of Antonello da MessinaAntonello da MessinaAntonello da Messina, properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio was an Italian painter from Messina, Sicily, active during the Italian Renaissance...
's school and the high altar tabernacle in lapislazuli. - Church of the Immacolata (17th century). The interior is home to a Romanesque lion sculpture, a Christ at the Column and the tombstone of Queen Marie (1402).
- The Church of St. Luke. It has a notable San Francis Speaking by Jacopo BassanoJacopo BassanoJacopo Bassano , known also as Jacopo dal Ponte, was an Italian painter who was born and died in Bassano del Grappa near Venice, from which he adopted the name.- Life :...
and other artworks. Next to the church are the remains of the Castle of Frederick IIFrederick II, Holy Roman EmperorFrederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
, the hypogeumHypogeumHypogeum or hypogaeum literally means "underground", from Greek hypo and gaia . It usually refers to an underground, non-Christian temple or a tomb...
of St. Lucy with 14th century frescoes, the Crucifix Grottoes with frescoes from the 12th-17th centuries and the ruins of the old parish church of St. Peter (16th century). - The 18th century church of San Francesco di Paola, with a rare organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
and artworks from churches destroyed by the 1693 earthquake.
Economy
Lentini's economy is mostly based on agriculture, with also a rather flourishing woodcraft and handicraft production.Notable Lentinesi
Giacomo da LentiniGiacomo da Lentini
Giacomo da Lentini, also known as Giàcumu da Lintini and Jacopo Notaro, was an Italian poet of the 13th century. He was a senior poet of the Sicilian School and was a notary at the court of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick II...
, thirteenth-century poet and reputed inventor of the sonnet
Sonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
.
Filadelfo Mugnos
Filadelfo Mugnos
Filadelfo Mugnos was an Italian historian, genealogist, poet and man of letters.He was born in Sicily at Lentini in 1607, but moved while young to Palermo. He obtained a doctorate in Law at the University of Catania...
(1607–1675), man of letters and author of the Teatro genealogico delle famiglie nobili siciliane.