History and etymology of Castroreale

In the Middle Ages "Castroreale"  was one of many "anonymous" hamlets of the plain of Milazzo. In a document dating back to 1263, under King Manfred (1232-1266), son of Frederick II of Swabia (1194-1250), its ancient name, "Criccine" appears next to the names of other  hamlets in a donation to the Monastery of  “Santa Maria di ‘Monialium’” of Messina: “[...] Item terrae qu[a]e sunt in Tenimento Nasari et tertia pars nemoris et casalis 'Criccine' [...]" ("Then the lands that are within the territory of Nasari and third parts of the wood and hamlet of 'Criccine' ").

Then, towards the middle of the fourteenth century, it still appears in a document prepared by the Chancellery  of  King Frederick II of Aragon (1272-1337). In this document, dating back to May of 1324, the hamlet of Castroreale (called  "Criccina" or "Christina") was "rewarded" with the  construction of a castle for its loyalty to the king during the War of the Vespers and recognized as the most important hamlet of the surrounding area: “[...] Quod Nos, considerantes fidem puram et devotionem sinceram ... Universitatis hominum terrae Christinae de plano Milatii ... in futurum Castrum et fortilitium ... de novo ... construi providimus et mandamus [...]” ; ["We, considering the loyalty and sincere devotion of the inhabitants of the " Cristina” land on the plain of Milazzo, provided that a fortress  was built"] (See F. Imbesi, “Terre, Casali e Feudi nel comprensorio barcellonese” ["Lands, Hamlets and Feuds in the Barcelona area"], Trento, Uniservice, 2009: 277 note 776;  283 note 789).

Ever after so the "castrum" ["citadel"] of Castroreale was born, in an area, such as the Plain of Milazzo, which already had a fundamental importance for the ancient fertility of the soil, and that for these reasons it was spread with hamlets and was considered a strategic point of primary importance for the food  supplies. In fact, already with Frederick II and  “with the advent of the Swabian dynasty in the island, the territories located in the plain of Milazzo continued to have considerable importance in the local market, thanks to the clever invention of Frederick II, who (...) by a decree of May 6, 1240 required that in eastern Sicily the only harbours  enabled to sell or export the food supplies were Milazzo and Augusta "(see p. 276). Castroreale is one of the few ‘place-names that kept unbroken its original name, "Castrum" (normally "castrum" was in fact replaced with "castellum"), the fortress, and the significance of this persistence of "Castrum" consists most likely in  the importance of the town and its surrounding area.

Frequently, the "castrum" became synonymous with "city". The particular linguistic phenomenon was nicely explained by  G. Rohlfs, when he illustrated the meaning of "Castro" in the place-names of southern Italy: "[...] Instead of thinking about the Latin 'Castrum' ['fortress’'], we must consider that the Latin word almost since the second century there is also in Greek:' Kastron '. In Italy almost all place-names compounded with 'Castro' belong to the Southern Italy, such as ‘Nicastro’, ‘Pagliòcastro’ , ‘Palecastro’, ‘Catocàstro’ , ‘Genicòcastro’, all located in Calabria, and then we have [in Sicily] ‘Castroreale’,  ‘Castrofilippo’, ‘Castrocucco’, ‘Castrogiovanni’, ‘Castronovo’, ‘Castrovillari’. On the other hand, the Greek word 'Kastron' appears sixteen times in Greece, with the addition of ‘Palaiòkastron’ (11 times), ‘Sideròkastron’, (4 times) and ‘Neokastron’ (...) In the Medieval Diplomas of  Southern Italy (X-XI century) 'Kastron' is the term used instead of 'Polis' ['city']. See for example the Greek expression "En Tò Kàstro Tàrantos" (' In the ‘city’ of Taranto')[...]" (G. Rohlfs, “Nuovi scavi linguistici nella antica Magna Grecia”, Istituto Siciliano di studi Bizantini e Neoellenici, 1972: 45-46 note 84). Among other things, there is also a Sicilian dialectal expression in which  ‘Castro’ must be interpreted as ‘city’: “Sciamu a Ccasciuor,” or  “let's go to Castro”, to indicate precisely the city. (See Gianni Lazzari, “Da Castro a Ferrandina”, in Terze Giornate di studi elimi”: 160). "Castro" is therefore the city. How  explains the "Treccani" Vocabulary (ad vocem): " [Castro is] a naturalization of the Latin 'castrum', properly 'castle, fortress', used as a historical term (alternative to the Latin form) in the sense that the word had in the Middle Ages, that is for denote  a 'legal and territorial center'.” With regard to the second part of the name, “reale” ["royal"], the term refers to the fact, historically established, that Frederick II of Aragon granted to the city many “royal” privileges, namely that they came directly from the King, which thus became a state property.  As V. D'Amico wrote ,  Frederick II granted  'Castro'  “Royal insignia and privileges" , (“Topographical Dictionary of Sicily”, Vol. I, 1858: 275). With regard to the ancient names ('Criccine', 'Criccina', 'Christina' [V. D'Amico: 275]) the names probably were referred to a gate and a special area of the city: “Castroreale was decorated with various and unique privileges by King Frederick II (...) Surrounded by walls, it had two gates to the East, called “Legni” and “Rocca” and a third gate to the West that was called 'Cintino' or 'Cristino' (...) I firmly believe that originally there was an area on the hill called 'Crizina' or 'Cristina', from which  the western gate is named. " According to V. D'Amico, Frederick II built “the castle , and then the place was inhabited by the ancient inhabitants of 'Cristina', from which comes the name of Castroreale”, a "city" which raised  a greater administrative  importance   in regard to other hamlets that were under its authority.

In medieval and modern times Castroreale played an important administrative and political role in the local and strategic territorial links, especially in the control of the plain of Milazzo. It had thus a very active economic life, although not without internal strifes among the various political factions. In the fifteenth century, for example, the city was torn  by violent political clashes that forced the Viceroies   Ruggero Paruta and Battista Platamonte to request a very urgent peacemaking gesture to curb the "Delinquentes" ("criminals") with just “puniciones” ( "punishments") because the “habitatores possunt in pace vivere et sub quiete” ["because the people could live in peace"]. A "Capitaneo" ("Captain")   was therefore left in the city, who “obligavit talis principales dictarum divisionis et discordiae et eorum sequaces fide homagio tregua” ["forced the main representatives of the factions and their followers to establish a truce, swearing an oath of loyalty to  it "] (See “Chancellery, f. 73 r. 10 9” in “Actas Volum III”, F. Titone in “El mon urbà a la Corona d'Aragò del 1137 als decrets de nova planta”, Barcelona-Leida 7-12 setembre 2000, Edicions Universitat Barcelona, 2003: 968 footnote 28). In the sixteenth century, some privileges were supplemented by grant of Charles V (1500-1558), who in 1525 assigned to Castroreale a territory separate from Milazzo, giving it the title of "city", with two letters (Nov. 16, 1525 and May 21, 1527) , where he began with these words: "A los amados, y los Iurados Nuestros fieles, y Consejo de la Ciudad de Castro Real" ["To all our  faithfuls and to the City Council of Castroreale"] (see S. Di Bella, “Caino Barocco. Messina e la Spagna (1672-1678)” , Cosenza, Pellegrini, 2005: 45 footnote 21).

 

Indeed, as we shall see later, the relations  of  Emperor Charles V with Castroreale were very close, not only from a  political, but also a cultural and artistic point of view, creating a "case" about which the art criticism discusses even today. During the sixteenth century the city grew larger and new walls were built, which included the village and other houses built along the sides of the hill. In the second half of the sixteenth century and into the next century new buildings, especially religious, were built inside the walled city. Unfortunately, many of them were destroyed by the earthquakes that followed during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, thereby depriving the city of outstanding architectural and artistic heritage, of which though fortunately we have ample evidences.

Some of the buildings, after the earthquake in the seventeenth century, were rebuilt, but a new earthquake in the second half of the eighteenth century had new and devastating destructive effects. Major planning work was begun in the nineteenth century, giving the city more space to roads and large squares. Even after the Unification (1861) the city continued to be an important administrative center and a market that is highly related to the products of agriculture; today the economic life of Castroreale knows a further impetus to tourism and the promotion of a heritage worthy of note, which has names of international value.