Modica
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| Comune di Modica | |
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 Municipal coat of arms |
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| Country |  Italy |
| Region | Sicily |
| Province | Ragusa (RG) |
| Mayor | Pietro Torchi Lucifora (since May 28, 2002) |
| Elevation | 296 m (971 ft) |
| Area | 290.77 km² (112 sq mi) |
| Population (as of December 31, 2004) | |
| - Total | 53,380 |
| - Density | 184/km² (477/sq mi) |
| Time zone | CET, UTC+1 |
| Coordinates | |
| Gentilic | Modicani |
| Dialing code | 0932 |
| Postal code | 97015 |
| Frazioni | Frigintini, Marina di Modica |
| Patron | St. George |
| - Day | April 23 |
| Website: www.comune.modica.rg.it | |
Modica (Greek: Μότουκα, Latin: Mutyca or Motyca) is a city in the Province of Ragusa, Sicily. The city is situated in the Hyblaean mountains and, along with Val di Noto, is part of UNESCO Heritage Sites in Italy.
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[edit] History
According to Thucydides, the city was founded in 1360 BC or 1031 BC and was inhabited by the Sicels circa the 7th century BC. It was probably from an early period a dependency of Syracuse. Modica was occupied by the Romans after the battle of the Egadi islands against the Carthaginians in the Punic Wars 241 BC, together with Syracuse and all the Sicily. Modica became one of the thirty-five decuman ("spontaneously submitted") cities of the island and was oppressed by the praetor Verres (Cicero, In Verrem, 1, III, 51). It became an independent municipium, and apparently a place of some consequence. The city is also mentioned among the inland towns of the island both by Pliny and Ptolemy; and though its name is not found in the Itineraries, it is again mentioned by the Geographer of Ravenna. (Plin. iii. 8. § 14 ; Ptol. iii. 4. § 14; Geogr. Rav. v. 23.) Silius Italicus also includes it in his list of Sicilian cities, and immediately associates it with Netum (now Noto Antico), with which it was clearly in the same neighborhood. (Sil. Ital. xiv. 268.)
The south-east of Sicily and Modica (according to the German historian L. Hertling) was precociously Christianized, as the diocese of Syracuse boasts an apostolic foundation by St. Paul in 61 AD (28,12). In 535, the Byzantine general Belisarius expelled the Goths and established for Justinian I the government of the East-Roman Empire (also improperly known as the Byzantine Empire) and the already Greek-speaking population fixed their culture until the Latinization of the Normans in the 11th century. In 845, Modica was captured by the Arabs who referred to the city as Mudiqah. In 1091 ended the long lasting war of the Normans, led by Roger of Hauteville, against the Arabs: with the fall of the entire Val di Noto, the south-eastern part of the island, the Christians, led by Roger of Hauteville, reconquered Sicily.
In 1296, Modica became the capital of an important county, which under the Chiaramonte family became a flourishing semi-independent state controlling the whole southern third of the island, with the right of a mint of its own and other privileges (see County of Modica). The most striking event of the modern era was the earthquake of 1693, which destroyed the entire Val di Noto, although to a slightly lesser extent in Modica.
Annexed to Italy in 1860, Modica remained district capital until 1926, when it was included in the province of Ragusa.
[edit] Main sights
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As the city developed it gradually became divided into "Modica Alta" (Upper Modica) and "Modica Bassa" (Lower Modica). During the last century the city has extended and developed new suburbs which include Sacro Cuore (or "Sorda"), Monserrato, Idria, these are often referred to as Modern Modica; both old and modern quarters of the city are today joined by one of Europe's higher bridge, the Guerrieri bridge (300 m).
Despite being ravaged by earthquakes in 1613 and 1693 and floods in 1833 and 1902, Modica has maintained some of the most beautiful architecture in Sicily, in the Sicilian Baroque style. The city possesses a large Baroque Cathedral dedicated to San Giorgio. While the cathedral was rebuilt following the earthquake of 1693, like many other parts of the city its roots are in the Middle Ages.
There is another important church dedicated to San Pietro in Modica Bassa, featuring a principal façade crowned by a typical Sicilian Baroque belltower 49 m in height.
Other sights include:
- Castello dei Conti (Castle)
- Chiesa del Carmine
- Church of St. Mary of Betlehem
- Garibaldi Theater
[edit] Economy
The economy of the area once principally agricultural producing olives, carobs, legumes, cereals, and cattle; an extraordinary and unique product is the famous chocolate of Modica, produced with an ancient and original Aztec recipe. The city has now been joined by factories producing textiles, furniture and cars. Tourism is also an important industry to the area, since Modica entered the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002.
[edit] Culture
The eighteenth century saw Modica in the role of art and culture town, counting philosophers (Tommaso Campailla), poets (Girolama Grimaldi Lorefice), a school of medicine (Campailla, Gaspare Cannata, Michele Gallo, the Polara family) and literary academies amongst its inhabitants. In the nineteenth century, feudalism was abolished and Modica became a "bourgeois" town peopled by notables such as the writer and anthropologist Serafino Amabile Guastella, the agronomist Clemente Grimaldi, the musician Pietro Floridia and many painters, historians and other intellectuals.
Modica was also the birth place of writer Salvatore Quasimodo, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1959.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography by William Smith (1856).
[edit] External links
- Modica online (Italian)
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