Caltanissetta

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Caltanissetta
coat of arms
Caltanissetta (Italy)
Caltanissetta
Country Italy
region Sicily
Free community consortium Caltanissetta  (CL)
Local name Nissa / Caltanissetta
Coordinates 37 ° 29 '  N , 14 ° 3'  E Coordinates: 37 ° 29 '26 "  N , 14 ° 3' 21"  E
height 568  m slm
surface 416 km²
Residents 61,331 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density 147 inhabitants / km²
Post Code 93100
prefix 0934
ISTAT number 085004
Popular name Nisseni
Patron saint San Michele
Website Caltanissetta
Panorama of Caltanissetta
Panorama of Caltanissetta

Caltanissetta ( Sicilian Nissa ; medieval Qalʿat an-Nisā , Calatanissa , Calatanixectum ) is a town and municipality in the Italian region of Sicily with 61,331 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019). It is the capital of the Caltanissetta Free Community Consortium .

Location and dates

Caltanissetta is located 128 kilometers southeast of Palermo in the interior of the island. It is located above a valley of the Imera Meridionale in a hilly area at an altitude of 568 meters. Caltanissetta is also the largest city in Sicily that is not on the sea.

The neighboring communities are Canicattì ( AG ), Delia ( Cl ), Enna ( EN ), Marianopoli , Mazzarino , Mussomeli , Naro (AG), Petralia Sottana ( PA ), Pietraperzia (EN), San Cataldo , Santa Caterina Villarmosa , Serradifalco and Sommatino .

history

Caltanissetta was probably already a settlement of the Sicans who called the place Nissa . A castle was built under the rule of the Arabs , which was occupied by the Normans in 1086. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the city grew under the House of Montcada , the districts of Santa Flavia , San Rocco and others were formed.

From the 19th century the city was one of the centers of sulfur and magnesium mining . In 1818 Caltanissetta became the provincial capital of the province of the same name.

Infrastructure

The area is dominated by agriculture. The main source of income for the inhabitants is the cultivation of wheat, artichokes, olives and almonds. In connection with this there are jobs in the food industry. The company Averna , which among other things produces a herbal bitters , has its headquarters here. Other important industries in the city are the chemical and metalworking industries.

The Caltanissetta Centrale station is on the Catania – Agrigento railway line ; The Caltanissetta – Palermo line begins at the Caltanissetta Xirbi station , a few kilometers north of the city .

There is also an expressway connection ( SS 640 ) to Agrigento that is currently being expanded . Caltanissetta also has a central bus station serving Catania, Palermo, Agrigento and many other cities in the region.

Attractions

Landscape near Caltanissetta
  • The Piazza Garibaldi is the center of the city. The cathedral, the Church of San Sebastiano and the Neptune Fountain are located here.
  • The Cathedral of S. Maria la Nova in Caltanissetta is the episcopal church of the diocese of Caltanissetta . It was built from 1570 to 1622 in the late Renaissance style with baroque stylistic features. In the church there are frescoes by Guglielmo Borremans from 1720.
  • Caltanissetta is the seat of an archaeological museum, which presents finds from the Bronze Age to the Byzantine period as well as finds from excavations in the 1950s near Sabucina .
  • In the Mineralogical and Paleontological Sulfur Museum, in addition to a large selection of stones and ores, the history and working conditions of sulfur mining are documented.
  • The remains of the wall of the Castello di Pietrarossa (Castle of Pietrarossa) are located southeast outside the town center of Caltanissetta on a rock above the cemetery. The Arab fort ( qalʿa it is called by Idrisi ) was conquered and expanded by the Normans in 1086. In the 12th century the settlement was right next to the castle, Hugo Falcandus describes it as an oppidum owned by Count Gottfried von Montescaglioso . In 1567 it was destroyed by an earthquake.

  • Caltanissetta Cathedral

  • Cathedral from inside

  • Fountain of Neptune

  • Chiesa di San Sebastiano

  • Chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angeli

  • Palazzo Moncada

  • town hall

  • Castello di Pietrarossa

Broadcasting station

Broadcasting station

Caltanissetta is the location of a long and a short wave transmitter of the RAI . The long-wave transmitter, which was shut down in August 2004, used a 282-meter-high guyed steel truss mast as a transmitting antenna. This last long-wave radio broadcaster in Italy, which last broadcast the RAI Radio Uno program, has since been active at times to broadcast news for shipping in the Mediterranean . The shortwave transmitter is still in operation, but no longer in the area of shortwave radio .

Events

  • The weekly market, which takes place twice a week, was already mentioned by Goethe in his Italian trip .

Town twinning

sons and daughters of the town

literature

Web links

Commons : Caltanissetta  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.
  2. ↑ Vincenzo Mortillaro: Nuovo dizionario siciliano-italiano . Palermo 1862 (reprint 1970) records in the section Dizionario geografico-statistico siciliano-latino-italiano dell'Isola di Sicilia e delle sue adjacenze on p. 956 only the form Caltanissetta , he does not record Nissa.
  3. ↑ Michele Amari : Carta comparata della Sicilia moderna con la Sicilia del XII secolo secondo Edrisi ed altri geografi arabi . Tradotta, integrata ed annotata da Luigi Santagati. Flaccovio editore, Palermo 2004, p. 77. ISBN 88-7804-245-5 .
  4. ^ Ferdinando Maurici: Castelli medievali in Sicilia. Dai bizantini ai normanni . Sellerio editore, Palermo 1992, p. 272.