Terrasini is a town and comune in the Metropolitan City of Palermo on the island of Sicily in Italy.

Data

Terrasini is located 30 km west of Palermo at the motorway between Palermo and Trapani, between the mountains and the Gulf of Castellammare near the Palermo International Airport. Terrasini's population works mainly in fishing and tourism. The population triples during the summer. Bounding communes are: Carini, Cinisi, Partinico and Trappeto.

History

The name Terrasini probably derives from Latin "terra sinus" = "land at the gulf" (the Gulf of Castellamare) or from "terra sinorum" = "land of the bays" due to the strongly curved coastline with a large number of larger and smaller bays. The name was first cited for the region in a letter from the archive of the abbey San Martino delle Scale near Monreale of 24 November 1350 as "terras vocatas li Terrasini". The grottoes in the area of Terrasini were inhabited already in the late paleolithic times. On different sites, tracks of Roman settlers were found. The origin of the town goes back to the late medieval times to a small settlement (called Favarotta) of agricultural workers on the large-scale landed property of the family "La Grua Talamanca" from Carini. In the 17th century, fishermen settled at the coast. When the former feudal property was left to the agricultural workers for cultivation, a flourishing agriculture developed around the fishers' village. Modern Terrasini was founded 24 October 1836, when King Ferdinand II issued a decree that the village Favarotta, then considered part of neighboring Cinisi, should be merged with adjoining Terrasini as a single community.

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