Luigi Strano
Roccella Valdemone (Me)
About 90 km. from Messina, on the Eastern Mounts Nebrodi, into luxuriant valley crossed by the torrent Roccella, rises Roccella Valdemone. It is probable that the seat was already populated in Norman period: in 1296 it became feud of the Spataforas. Of the ancient and glorious history of Roccella are proofs some ruins of a Medieval castle which was one of the most important fortress in Sicily and has been considered for a long time to be elusive. Walking along the village it gets to the precious Cathedral Church which among furnishings of best workmanship, precious canvases and elegant sculptures, keeps a marble work of 1540 with a delicate taste made by Giacomo Gagini (1517-1598). Splendid is also the Church of Santa Maria dell’Udienza (Our Lady of Udience), with a simple architecture, characterized by a beautiful and decorated portal, by ornaments on the front, by the original insides rich of friezes. The temple also shows a beautiful sculpture made by Giacomo Gagini (1517-1598) representing an intense, in the outlines, Our Lady with Christ Child.. Inhabitants of Roccella (Roccellesi) find into popular manifestations a moment of cultural identity besides an occasion of joy and making feast: in May the festival of buttermilk curd, is special. It attracts into village visitors of the near villages and they also expet the tasting of good local food along the streets of Roccella; suggestive is also the feast in honour of Madonna dell’Udienza (Our Lady of Udience) kept on 15 August.Roccella’s territory, full of wheat, vine, legume, and fruit growings, shows insuperable sceneries included in reserves of the Valley of Alcantara and of the Wood of Malabotta. The Church Mother S. Nicolò of Bari constructed around to the 1400, the Church Mother, rises in the public square of the country dominated from the high bell tower. The inside is of Romanesque style, to three navate with transept, three rectangular apses, twelve monolitiche columns in sandstone stone with capital of corinthian style and the ligneo ceiling, rifared in 1935. The church came entire restored in the 1525 as it is deduced from two written in Latin language still today visible on sides of the greater altar. On the left side of the altar can be admired the marmoreo picture representing the Nativity ; of Jesus, commissioned in the 1526 to the Antonello Gagini from the baron Giovanni Michele Spadafora, but nearly totally executed from the son Giacomo.
Roccella Valdemone è un comune italiano di 714 abitanti della provincia di Messina in Sicilia.Anticamente battezzata Auricella e Rocchella (dal latino medievale Roccella, piccola rocca) quindi Roccella-Randazzo e infine Roccella Valdemone.Il nome "Valdemone" ha origine da una delle tre circoscrizioni amministrative in cui gli Arabi suddivisero la Sicilia, ossia il Vallo di Demena, che a sua volta discende dal latino Valium (vallo).Il ritrovamento in territori vicini a Roccella, di monete greco-romane fa supporre la presenza di antichi insediamenti umani.Sorta in età normanna, un castello consolidò nel Medioevo la sua posizione di centro strategico difficilmente espugnabile. Il territorio è suddiviso in quattro contrade risalenti al sistema feudale, offerte ai Baroni come ricompensa. Infatti Roccella fu affidata nel 1296 da Federico II d'Aragona a Damiano Spadafora col titolo di baronia, divenendo in seguito marchesato. Lo stemma Spadafora, composto da un braccio armato che tiene una spada, tutt'oggi è raffigurato nel gonfalone comunale.Le contrade, in cui tutt'oggi è suddiviso il territorio sono: a nord Cassanita, Masinaro, Nocerazzo, Perino, Pillera e Revocato; a sud Bonvassallo (in cui a differenza delle altre esiste ancora la borgata), Germanà, Pecoraro, S. Giovanni; a est Daniele; a ovest Pietrorizzo, Lanzarite.Gli Spadafora (anticamente Spatafora) ne mantennero il possesso (con la denominazione alterna dei Lauria) fino al 1812 quando, mentre il paese era sotto la giurisdizione del marchese Domenico Spadafora Colonna ultimo feudatario della famiglia, il parlamento del Regno delle due Sicile abolì il feudalesimo.
Roccella Valdemone (Me)
About 90 km. from Messina, on the Eastern Mounts Nebrodi, into luxuriant valley crossed by the torrent Roccella, rises Roccella Valdemone. It is probable that the seat was already populated in Norman period: in 1296 it became feud of the Spataforas. Of the ancient and glorious history of Roccella are proofs some ruins of a Medieval castle which was one of the most important fortress in Sicily and has been considered for a long time to be elusive. Walking along the village it gets to the precious Cathedral Church which among furnishings of best workmanship, precious canvases and elegant sculptures, keeps a marble work of 1540 with a delicate taste made by Giacomo Gagini (1517-1598). Splendid is also the Church of Santa Maria dell’Udienza (Our Lady of Udience), with a simple architecture, characterized by a beautiful and decorated portal, by ornaments on the front, by the original insides rich of friezes. The temple also shows a beautiful sculpture made by Giacomo Gagini (1517-1598) representing an intense, in the outlines, Our Lady with Christ Child.. Inhabitants of Roccella (Roccellesi) find into popular manifestations a moment of cultural identity besides an occasion of joy and making feast: in May the festival of buttermilk curd, is special. It attracts into village visitors of the near villages and they also expet the tasting of good local food along the streets of Roccella; suggestive is also the feast in honour of Madonna dell’Udienza (Our Lady of Udience) kept on 15 August.Roccella’s territory, full of wheat, vine, legume, and fruit growings, shows insuperable sceneries included in reserves of the Valley of Alcantara and of the Wood of Malabotta. The Church Mother S. Nicolò of Bari constructed around to the 1400, the Church Mother, rises in the public square of the country dominated from the high bell tower. The inside is of Romanesque style, to three navate with transept, three rectangular apses, twelve monolitiche columns in sandstone stone with capital of corinthian style and the ligneo ceiling, rifared in 1935. The church came entire restored in the 1525 as it is deduced from two written in Latin language still today visible on sides of the greater altar. On the left side of the altar can be admired the marmoreo picture representing the Nativity ; of Jesus, commissioned in the 1526 to the Antonello Gagini from the baron Giovanni Michele Spadafora, but nearly totally executed from the son Giacomo.
Roccella Valdemone è un comune italiano di 714 abitanti della provincia di Messina in Sicilia.Anticamente battezzata Auricella e Rocchella (dal latino medievale Roccella, piccola rocca) quindi Roccella-Randazzo e infine Roccella Valdemone.Il nome "Valdemone" ha origine da una delle tre circoscrizioni amministrative in cui gli Arabi suddivisero la Sicilia, ossia il Vallo di Demena, che a sua volta discende dal latino Valium (vallo).Il ritrovamento in territori vicini a Roccella, di monete greco-romane fa supporre la presenza di antichi insediamenti umani.Sorta in età normanna, un castello consolidò nel Medioevo la sua posizione di centro strategico difficilmente espugnabile. Il territorio è suddiviso in quattro contrade risalenti al sistema feudale, offerte ai Baroni come ricompensa. Infatti Roccella fu affidata nel 1296 da Federico II d'Aragona a Damiano Spadafora col titolo di baronia, divenendo in seguito marchesato. Lo stemma Spadafora, composto da un braccio armato che tiene una spada, tutt'oggi è raffigurato nel gonfalone comunale.Le contrade, in cui tutt'oggi è suddiviso il territorio sono: a nord Cassanita, Masinaro, Nocerazzo, Perino, Pillera e Revocato; a sud Bonvassallo (in cui a differenza delle altre esiste ancora la borgata), Germanà, Pecoraro, S. Giovanni; a est Daniele; a ovest Pietrorizzo, Lanzarite.Gli Spadafora (anticamente Spatafora) ne mantennero il possesso (con la denominazione alterna dei Lauria) fino al 1812 quando, mentre il paese era sotto la giurisdizione del marchese Domenico Spadafora Colonna ultimo feudatario della famiglia, il parlamento del Regno delle due Sicile abolì il feudalesimo.