Laid down on a hill at
the feet of mountains covered with conifers and eucalyptus, Chiaramonte
Gulfi is the symbol of the landscape of the province of Ragusa which is
the smallest but also the most varied one in Sicily. The town, in a limited
portion of territory offers this variety too. From the naturalistic routes
through the mountains and 
particularly from the peak of the Arcibessi, an ancient
place of Christianized rites still felt during the nineteenth century,
you can see the Hyblaean plateau and into the distance the Ippari plain
and the expanse of the age old olive trees, the Saracen olive trees which
are the symbol of this land. Driving down the hairpin bends of the state
road, before reaching the town we meet, in a pine wood, the first architectural
work of art, the small XVI century church of the Madonna delle Grazie.
It is a church with one nave , which preserves, in a limes
tone and black stone chapel inside the church, a marble statue
of the Virgin by the sculptor Luca Maldotto. After the church the pine
wood starts again to end just by the edge of the hill.
The baroque palaces, the courtyards in hard stone slabs, the alleys and
the flights of steps of the town centre, the churches and the more recent
buildings, the stone paved streets, move southwards to the plain and Eastward
to the higher part of the hill.
The archaeological
settlements
Prehistoric settlements dating back to the Bronze Age and to the Iron
Age have been brought to light, scattered everywhere in the areas referred
to as Aranci, Piano Conte, Piano Grillo, Casazze, Arcieri, Torre Mazzaronello,
Marani, Pipitana. Necropolis, prehistoric settlements and Greek archaic
built-up areas have been found.
In Sperlinga, Cifali and Arcibessi areas some Byzantine and medieval ruins
have been found while in Fegotto and other localities there are some sites
dating back to the Roman-Hellenistic age. But the most important archaeological
site is the one in Scornavacche whose findings are held in the Archaeological
Museum in
Ragusa This nucleus too, shows a past full of destruction.
The built up area developed all around the Dirillo river and was destroyed
by the Punic populations in 406. It was then rebuilt by Timoleonte in
the eastern plain but two centuries later was definitively destroyed .
The peculiarity of this centre was the high number of kilns built and
used to fire clay. It was probably the main economical activity for its
inhabitants.
The History: Acrillae
The history of this
town is marked by continuous rebuilding after destructive invasions of
new rulers.
In the territory nearby Chiaramonte numerous archaeological findings revealing
the existence of the ancient Acrillae have been discovered; it was a thriving
Greek colony whose wealth was based on trade, also mentioned in the works
of Livy and Plutarch . Acrillae was important for its strategic position
along the line from Syracuse to Agrigento. One of the most famous experts
in the history of this colony is Antonino Di Vita from Chiaramonte, member
of the Accademia dei Lincei, and Chancellor of the Italian archaeological
school in Athens. Acrillae was founded seventy years after Syracuse (like
Kamarina it was founded by the Greek Syracusans ) and was destroyed by
the Arabs who came to the island after the fall of the Roman Empire and
the economic breakdown caused by the Byzantines. The Arabian caliph
Asad Ibn Al Furat in 827 guided the Arabs into western Sicily to conquer
the eastern part too and they named this town Gulfi which according to
the etymology of their language meant delightful land, bed of roses and
a place full of vegetation.
The growth brought by Arabs was supplanted by feudalism introduced by
the Normans in 1070. The sanctuary of the Madonna di Gulfi is one of the
most representative monuments, with its architectural modules and the
pointed arch in the south aisle it is the most beautiful work of art left
by the rulers of that age.
The present town
The present urban organisation dates back to the fourteenth century,
after the Angevins destroyed the town in 1299; an event mentioned by the
historian Solarino who wrote: "The simple memory makes people cry
for anguish and horror". Though Chiaramonte had surrendered asking
to spare the life of children and women, a squad of soldiers slaughtered
the inhabitants leaving an unforgettable mark in the collective memory.
The town was named after the Chiaramonte family. The Earl Manfredi I (who
received the County of Modica by the King Frederick in 1296) belonging
to a Nor
man family coming from the town of Clermont de
l’Oise in Picardy, after the expulsion of the French wanted to rebuild
the town on the rise, fortifying it with a castle. The fortress had three
doors, one of which in the North-Western side, the portal of Annunziata,
is still extraordinarily undamaged. Noble families rebuilt their mansions
around the castle, while the people went to live in the lower part, in
the present quarter of San Vito, refitting some natural stone caves. The
earthquake of the end of the Seventeenth century destroyed the whole castle
and the nearby mansions. In the heat of the reconstruction, the town followed
the baroque model of the Val di Noto, preserving the old medieval plan
and the grid of narrow streets while all the works of art which miraculously
survived the earthquake were incorporated in the new town. The royal decree
of 1881 ordered to add the name Gulfi in memory of the old town.