The ruins of Salaparuta

The ruins of Salaparuta, a small Sicilian town, are the historical testimony of the serious earthquake that hit the Belice valley in 1968. The ruins are what remained of the old town of the Municipality of Trapani and keep alive the memory of one of the most dramatic events that hit Sicily and the whole of Italy.

The ruins of Salaparuta: history and origins

Salaparuta is a Sicilian town in the province of Trapani. It is located in the valley of Belice river , perched on a hill 385 meters above sea level. The town has Arab origins and was once called Menzil Salh (The Lady's Hamlet).

In the fifteenth century it became a fief of the Paruta family from which the current toponym derives. Salaparuta derives, in fact, from the Norman word Sala which means house and from the name of Baron Paruta whose family dominated the area from the XNUMXth century and to whom we owe the construction of the ancient medieval historic center at the foot of the castle.

The Ruins of Salaparuta: The Castle of Salaparuta

The Castle already existed in the Middle Ages. In 1392 he became its owner Antonio Moncada from which it was, however, seized by King Martino following his attempted revolt. After the confiscation, it changed hands several times between various local lords until Geronimo Paruta bought it, from whose surname the entire village took its name.

The Paruta family kept the property for centuries until the beginning of the XNUMXth century when it passed to the Municipality which also used it as a school until the year of the earthquake.

The Ruins of Salaparuta: The Casamenti di Salaparuta

The small town of Salaparuta was characterized by the imposing Casamenti. These were the homes of the aristocrats and wealthy lords of the small village. The buildings boasted a very particular architectural structure : they were, in fact, massive and imposing buildings that opened onto internal courtyards in which, among other things, luxuriant gardens flourished.

Many houses had survived centuries of history until the terrible Belice earthquake in 1968 . Today, only a few ruins remain, known precisely as the ruins of Salaparuta.

The ruins of Salaparuta: the earthquake of 1968

The strong earthquake that shook the Valle del Belice in 1969 recorded an intensity equal to 6,1 degrees on the Richter scale: one of the most intense and devastating magnitudes ever recorded in the entire Italian peninsula.

The terrible earthquake, in addition to destroying homes and entire towns, killed over two hundred people, wounding a thousand. More than one hundred thousand people were left homeless and four villages were totally razed to the ground: in the province of Agrigento, the town of Montevago; in the province of Trapani, Poggioreale, Gibellina and Salaparuta.

The ruins of Salaparuta: the reconstruction

The natural disaster had reduced the whole country to rubble and forced the local administrations to rebuild all houses along the slope. After the earthquake and first aid to the affected populations, the Italian Government decided, in fact, that the reconstruction of the four destroyed villages could not take place in the same place by renovating the buildings of which only a few ruins now remained.

It would have been easier and more economically convenient to build the four inhabited centers from scratch far from the previous historical centres. The task was entrusted to famous experts and masters of architecture, known throughout the world, including the architect F. Purini . The team of specialists was asked to build new cities, modern and suited to the times, with a precise urban plan in which residential areas alternate with areas intended for private homes.

Since then, the ruins of Salaparuta have continued to be silent witnesses of the past ancient history and of what local life was like before the disastrous earthquake.

The ruins of Salaparuta: Salaparuta today and the DOC wine

The local economy of the small Trapani town mainly revolves around the agriculture and an important source of income is given by the extraordinary vineyards, scattered throughout the territory of the municipality.

The production and quality of the grapes has reached such levels of excellence as to make the local wine deserve the prestigious label of Salaparuta DOC , on 8 February 2006. There are many social and private wineries that produce this highly prized wine, known and appreciated even beyond the Italian borders. Among the most famous wineries we find that of Duke of Salaparuta and Corvo.

The ruins of Salaparuta: What to visit

Due to the earthquake of 1968, the buildings and historical monuments typical of Salaparuta were destroyed and only ruins remain (the ruins of Salaparuta). Today you can admire the ruins of the Medieval Castle and a valuable statue of Santa Caterina, which miraculously survived the natural calamity and is now kept in the restored Mother Church.

The statue of Santa Caterina in Salaparuta

The Mother Church of Salaparuta was almost entirely destroyed by the 1968 earthquake which spared only a small part. It was a baroque building, majestic and imposing, with an enormous staircase that rose onto the square.

Inside there was a precious statue of Santa Caterina, the work according to experts, by Bartolomeo Berrettaro, a Tuscan sculptor of the fifteenth century who spent most of his life in Sicily. The earthquake that destroyed the Church had buried the statue in the rubble and only with great effort was it possible to recover it. Today it is possible to admire it in the New Mother Church of Salaparuta.