Place:Caltanissetta, Caltanissetta, Sicilia, Italy

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Caltanissetta (; or ) is a comune in the central interior of Sicily, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Caltanissetta. Its inhabitants are called Nisseni.

In 2017, the city had a population of 62,797. It is the 14th largest comune in Italy measured by area, the sixth highest comune in Italy by elevation (568 m), the second highest elevation in Sicily after the city of Enna (912 m).

Its patron saint is Archangel Michael.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Caltanissetta's origins can be traced back to 406 BC, when admiral Nicia of Hamilcar's siege force from Carthage established a fort at the site, later called Castra Nicia (Fort Nicia).

After the Second Punic War, Castra Nicia came under Roman rule, but as in the rest of Sicily, the influence of the invaders remained superficial.

In AD 829, the city was occupied by the Saracens. The Carthaginian name, similar to the Arabic word nisā’ (meaning 'women') resulted in the Saracen name Qal‘at al-Nisā’ ('Fort of the Women'), since Italianized to Caltanissetta. The settlement was captured by the Normans in 1086. A charter was granted to the town in accordance with Count Roger Borsa's vast plan for the urbanisation of Sicily, and the urban plan that is still in evidence today was laid out. It is during this time that cannoli is believed to have been invented here.

After the Norman occupation the city was under the rule of the Hohenstaufen, the Anjou and the Aragonese kings, who gave it the title of 'County'. It was here that Frederick II of Sicily was proclaimed king. The city was the seat of another Parliament which aimed to settle the disputes which had arisen during the reign of Frederick III (1355–1377).

In 1407, King Martin I ceded the territory of Caltanissetta to Matteo Moncada II, of the noble Spanish House of Moncada,^[1] which already owned the estate of Paternò, and subsequently the area fell into great decay. Construction of the Cathedral began in 1539, and, notably, in 1566 a bridge was built over the Salso River. In this period the city began to expand outside the walls, with creation of the new areas of Santa Flavia, San Rocco degli Zingari and San Francesco. These included the medieval village of Arab origin. The areas were separated by two roads which crossed roughly perpendicularly to a central square (now Piazza Garibaldi): the current Corso Vittorio Emanuele (west-east) and the Corso Umberto I (north-south).

On July 8, 1718 the city was assaulted by Piedmontese troops, causing large loss of life to the population. In 1787 Johann Wolfgang Goethe visited Caltanissetta.

In 1812, the Moncada seignory ended after a rule of 406 years, when the feudal constitution was abolished and Caltanissetta was turned into the 22nd Comarca of Sicily. In 1819 the city was declared to be the Capital of the province. However one year later it was sacked as a punishment for its loyalty to the House of Bourbon. In 1844 it was elevated to a Bishopric seat.

After many Nisseni had taken part in his Thousands deeds, Giuseppe Garibaldi entered the city, together with Cesare Abba and Alexandre Dumas, père. On October 22 of the same year a Plebiscite declared Caltanissetta to be part of the new Kingdom of Italy.

After the Unification of Italy the area experienced an economic boom, largely due to extensive mining of sulfur. The mining was accompanied by various misfortunes: on the 27th of April 1867 47 people died due to a fire-damp explosion in the Trabonella mine; 65 miners died on November 12, 1881 in Gessolungo mine because of an explosion; and another 51 died in 1911 in Deliella and Trabonella mines.

In 1875, however, the population rose up against the Prefect, who was subsequently fired. On April 8, 1878 the city was connected to a railway, ending the historical difficulties in reaching it. Three years later the King Umberto I visited Caltanissetta along with his wife Margherita of Savoy and his son Victor Emmanuel III.

During the Second World War, as part of the Allied landing in Sicily( in July 1943), Caltanissetta suffered several bombings during which 351 civilians were killed. On July 10, 1943 U.S. 3rd Infantry troops landed in Licata and 8 days later, on 18 July they entered and occupied the city. The U.S. 1st infantry landed in Gela some hours later and advanced toward Catania to meet the U.S 45th Infantry, which had landed near Scoglitti.

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