Novara di Sicilia
Comune in Sicily, Italy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Novara di Sicilia is a comune in the Metropolitan City of Messina in Sicily, Italy.
Novara di Sicilia | |
|---|---|
| Comune di Novara di Sicilia | |
 | |
  Novara di Sicilia Location within Italy  Novara di Sicilia Location within Sicily | |
| Coordinates: 38°1′N 15°8′E | |
| Country | Italy |
| Region | Sicily |
| Metropolitan city | Messina (ME) |
| Frazioni | San Basilio, San Marco, Vallancazza, Piano Vigna, Badia Vecchia |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Girolamo Bertolami |
| Area | |
• Total | 48.8 km2 (18.8 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 650 m (2,130 ft) |
| Population (30 November 2011)[2] | |
• Total | 1,414 |
| • Density | 29.0/km2 (75.0/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Novaresi |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postal code | 98058 |
| Dialing code | 0941 |
| Patron saint | Assumption of Mary, St. Hugh Abbot |
| Saint day | August 15 and 16 |
| Website | Official website |
Toponymy
History
There is archaeological evidence of Mesolithic habitation. Pliny mentions the Roman city of Noa, and its inhabitants the Noeni.[4]
Lombards settled there in 1061–72. During the time of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, in 1171 Hugh of Châteaneuf founded the Abbey of Santa Maria Nucaria. In the 1200s a castle was built by Roger of Lauria.[4]
The lands passed to the Palizzis and then in 1364 to Vinciguerra d’Aragona. In 1641 the fief was granted to the wife of Marcantonio Colonna.[4]
The village peaked in the 1600s with the development of a dense network of alleys and lanes, and the considerable array of decorative elements on the houses, carved in local sandstone, cipollino, and marble.[4]
Geography
It is about 160 kilometres (99 mi) east of Palermo and some 40 kilometres (25 mi) southwest of Messina. It borders the following municipalities: Fondachelli-Fantina, Francavilla di Sicilia, Mazzarrà Sant'Andrea, Rodì Milici, Tripi. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy").[5]
