Balestrate (Palermo Province) is 43 km from Palermo, alt. 35 m., in the Gulf of Castellammare, on the Tyrrhenian sea, area 3.8 sq. km., pop. over 6000, post-code 90041 tel. 091 Economy: wines (marsala), summer tourism.
The name is derived from the width (un tiro di balestra = one crossbow shot) of the coastal stretch of the Partenia wood which Frederick of Aragon reserved for the royal domain in 1307. In 1681 Giacomo Santoro initiated contruction of the town around a fishery on the beach at Sicciara.
Churches (Monreale Diocese) include the following:
Families researched in these records include the following:
Links to other sites about Balestrate include:
My latest book on CD is titled Sicily, Part 1 and Part 2 is now available on 2 CDs. With a file for each town (plus many other files), it relates the history of Sicily as reflected in the photos, records and festivals of its towns. It contains over 2500 text and photo files and can be ordered at CD order.
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