History and etymology of Partinico
Vittorio Giustolisi, who can be considered the re-founder of the studies about Partinico, pointed out that “even if the 'Parthenicum' name always aroused suspicions on a Greek origin of the town, which in Roman, Byzantine and Arab times was located near present Partinico, we have not found any evidence that the site had been a village of Greek origin.
In fact, the name is attested in late antiquity, that is in the 'Itinerarium Antonini’ and indisputable evidence about Partinico date back to the Arab times [ The "Itinerarium Antonini" (which dates from the time of the Emperor Caracalla, 211–217 AD), indicating the Tyrrhenian coast road (the “Via Valeria”) in the route from Hyccara to Lylibaeo, also mentioned the "stationes” [middle phases] of “Parthenicum” and “Aquae Segestanis”]. True to tell, Cluverius [Philipp Clüver (1580 – 1622)] had already suggested that there existed an ancient town known as "Parthenicum", but some scholars, such as A. Holm, did not believe a lot: "Cluverius assumed that there had been a city called 'Parthenicum', mentioned in the 'Itinerarium Antonini,’ D. 144 and he placed these ruins near ‘Sala Partinico.’ However, the ruins could be of another Sikan ancient city "(See A. Holm, “Storia della Sicilia nell'antichità,” Forni, 1965, p. 202).
On the contrary, with a pressing historical and archaeological investigation, Vittorio Giustolisi succeeded with his plan setting Partinico within a very ancient frame, for which it would manifest a "clearly Hellenic origin" (See V. Giustolisi, “Parthenicum e le aquae segestanae”,Centro di documentazione e ricerca per la Sicilia antica 'Paolo Orsi', 1976, pp. 7 ff.).
Therefore, according to Giustolisi, even if the former site of "Parthenicum" is attested only from the age of late antiquity, it is clear that we must think about a Greek origin. Analyzing the nature of the area, such as “Monte d'Oro”, Giustolisi stressed that the site, for its position as a major trading junction between East and West of Sicily, overlooking the plain of Partinico, controlled the only way of relatively easy access to the mountains. Because of this ubication, it is intuitable that the place of “Monte d'Oro” should have inevitably fallen into the sphere of interest of the Greeks. Moreover, even the excavations on the site have unearthed various artifacts of Greek origin.
To all that, we must then add the etymological and linguistic studies, which have helped to redesign the face of the ancient Partinico, presumably a Greek "emporium". While Bruno Pace derived "Parthenicum" from that of a Roman freedman of Greek origin, the explorations made by Giustolisi confirmed "what the name of the ancient town left suspect, that is that Parthenicum existed since the VII-VI BC and it was a Greek village. To a clear Greek etymology also G. Alessio thought, who, with regard to Partinico, spoke of "theophoric" names , that is carrying the name of a god, as in the case of "Parthenicum.” It derives from the Greek "Parthenikòs", "presumably in connection with 'Parthenos', that is 'The Virgin Athena or Artemis'" (See G. Alessio, “Fortune della grecità linguistica in Sicilia”, Flaccovio, 1970, p. 14).
The G. Alessio’s observation perfectly coincides with that proposed in a manuscript of the local scholar G.M. di Bartolomeo, who points out that "[...] Thus we have to assign to Partinico an earlier origin with respect to the Saracen times and to adhere to the Greek definition of 'pa??e????s' ["Parthenikòs"],, which corresponds the Latin 'Virginalis' [Virginal] (...) And this is perhaps because the area was devoted to a virgin goddess or some other that we ignore [...]" (See G.M. di Bartolomeo, "Storia di Partinico," unpublished manuscript, 1805, edited by Giuseppe Schirò and Gioacchino Nania, Regione siciliana, Assessorato ai Beni Culturali , 2007, p. 3).
V. Giustolisi in support of his case, added that “the present ‘Cala dei Muletti’ [San Cataldo] is the place where, of course, we must locate the port of 'Parthenicum' in Greek-Roman and Arab times” (See V. Giustolisi, “Le navi romane di Terrasini, e l'avventura di Amilcare sul Monte Heirkte”, “Centro di documentazione e ricerca per la Sicilia antica 'Paolo Orsi'” , 1975, pp. 7 ff.). The idea that Partinico was an ancient Greek city, therefore, rests on the fact that it was located along the roads of major commercial interest in Roman times. In this regard, V. Giustolisi traced at "Parthenicum" the ruins of a Roman villa, not far from Partinico, “which must have got consistency in the middle of the second century (Giustolisi, “Parthenicum e le aquae segestanae” , p. 44). In Roman times, in the area of ??Partinico, is attested the presence of some owners of the "Gens Marciana": “In a diploma of Monreale dating back to 1180 is mentioned a 'Marciano' farm, which extended into the area of Partinico and the name of which could back to the 'Gens Marcia’ "(See R. Rizzo, “Papa Gregorio Magno e la nobiltà di Sicilia”, Officina di studi medfievali , 2008, pp. 41-42 note 174). The Giustolisi's intuitions are now accepted by scholars, who recognize him the merit of having reformulated the history of Partinico: "Finally 'Parthenicum' has found its geographical arrangement and the silent ruins of Sirignano, Cala Muletti, Raccuglia, Galeazzo, Monacelli and Mottola have aquired a historical dimension and a significant value "(see L. D'Asaro, “Nel regno di Cocalo: da Inico a Partinico, da Camico ad Al-Qamaq” , Sigma, 1997, p. 5 ff).
With regarg to the late antiquity until the Arabs, we do not have information about Partinico, except that it remained a small village, in the transition from ancient until the Byzantine and Arab times. More or less, also Partinico followed, in Byzantine times, the same fate that befell Segesta: "In the district of ‘Casale’, along an ancient route towards Partinico the late ancient tracks are represented by few fragments of pottery and tiles streaked with achromatic grooves "(See ",“Byzantino-Sicula IV: atti del I Congresso internazionale di archeologia della Sicilia bizantina”, Corleone, 28 luglio-2 agosto 1998, Istituto di studi Neoellenici, 2002, p. 377). The Arabs, after the conquest of Sicily, called the city "Bartiniq" (Al Idrisi [M. Amari, “Il Libro di Ruggero”, 1883, p. 39] called it 'b.rt.nic').
They, "after more than three centuries of domination, had not completely shattered the previous toponymy: Jato, but only for phonetic problems, became ‘Giato’; Partinico remained unchanged, excluding the variant P [artinico] with B [artiniq]" (See G. Nania, “Toponomastica e topografia storica nelle valli del Belice e dello Jato”, Palermo, 1995, p. 36). Under the Arab rule, things radically were working out for the best, and the village showed a great economic vitality, especially in agriculture, overlooking a plain of cotton and leguminous plants, spread over many farms, where new farming techniques were introduced. In Norman times there was a redistribution of the agricultural resources of the country, which generally were granted to the "milites fideles" (loyal comrades in arms) of Count Roger, who helped him in the conquest of Sicily. The old "B.rt.nic" of the Arabs was therefore granted to the powerful family of the Avenello (or Avenel).
The feoffment was illustrated in detail by Giuseppe Casarrubea [ “Uomini e Terra a Partinico”, 1981, p. 7], who wrote: "[...] Among the subjects of Count Roger, who after the conquest of Sicily had extensive properties, there were Rinaldo and Roberto Avenello, who distinguished themselves in the fight against the Muslims (...) The Arab 'Barstanin' (that is Partinico) was granted them [...]" (“The form ‘Barstanin’ [ adopted by Casarrubea] related by Rocco Pirro is one of the many drags operated by the same author about the transcription of many place names”, See G. Schirò and G. Nania, p. 7).
The Avenel became very powerful, because this family was related to Roger II (1095-1154); of it we know the names of some components, such as "the brothers Robert, Drogo, Rainald and Richard, with his wife Fredesenda" (See S. Tramontana, “Popolazione, distribuzione della terra e classi sociali nella Sicilia del Gran Conte”, in “Ruggero il gran conte e l'inizio dello stato normanno: atti delle seconde Giornate normanno-sveve” (Bari, 19-21 May 1975), Dedalo, 1991, p. 248 note 98).
Around the twelfth century, but in unspecified circumstances, there was probably the destruction of the Arab city: “ We have not information on this event. We know that Sicily through some periods of serious disorders, about which the sources are scarce and merely they restrict themselves to the most important events (...) In particular very serious events were mentioned under William III of Sicily (1185-1198) and during the minority of Frederick II of Swabia (1194-1250), not to mention the Angevin period, the revolt of the Vespers and the long war that followed. As is evident, therefore, we can perfectly understand as the destruction of the city may have happened in one of these periods "(See V.E. Orlando, “Contributo alla storia di Partinico”, in “Archivio storico siciliano” , 1922, pp. 25 - 26).
Beyond the fact that in the twelfth and thirteenth century may have occurred the destruction of the Arab town of "Bartiniq", what is certain, however, as observed by all local historians of Partinico, is that in Norman times we can not speak of a real village called “Partinico”, because the population was spread in a number of hamlets in the so-called “Woods of Partinico.”
Things will mature when it was founded the Abbey of Altofonte, to which Frederick III of Aragon, following a strategy of re-population of the territory of Partinico, still uninhabited, granted to found a hamlet in the woods of Partinico, which took the name of "Sala Partinico." The term "Sala" was to indicate "a large estate with a master's house, yard, stables and other buildings for servants, farmers, and other persons necessary to the cultivation "(See G. Casarrubea, p. 11 footnote 14). In essence, the birth of modern Partinico goes back to the foundation of the hamlet in 1307: “[...] Op[p]idum Sala Parthenici aliter Joannes Cammarana Parthenici Nemus ex Regia Friderici II donatione commissum tenebat seculi XIV initio, circa quod tempus Princeps idem de Sanctae Mariae Altifontis apud Parcum condiendo cenobio cogitavit. Septimo hinc eiusdem seculi anno , aliis bonis Cammaranae assignatis, Nemus ad se praedicum revocavit, ac illi Monafterio attribuit ex Diplomate Messanae scripto mense Junio MCCCII. Nec diu biennio scilicet elapso , pagum extruendi in loco Parthenici facultatem Coenobii Monachis attribuit, utque iuribus fruerentur omnibus (...) Mox etiam, ut arcem , seu Fortilitium ad tutelam et securitatem aere proprio edificare possent, concessit (...) Ex quibus Partbenici ortum principium habes [...]”
[Giovanni Cammarana, by concession of Frederick II 0f Aragon (1272-1337), owned at the beginning of the fourteenth century the fortified village of ‘Sala Partinico’ and the woods. At that time the King founded the Monastery of Santa Maria di Altofonte in the Park. Around 1307, after assigning to Cammarana other properties, granted to the monks the right to build a village in Partinico, giving them all beneficial ownerships (...) Then, for their own safety, gave them the opportunity to build a fortress. Here, therefore, how Partinico arose] (See V.M. Amico, “Lexicon topographicum siculum in quo Siciliae urbes, op[p]ida, cum vetusta tum extantia montes, flumina, portus adiacentes insula ac singula loca describuntur, illustrantur”, 1760, Tomi secundi, pp. 72-73).
F. Maurici summarizes the facts like this: "The present town was built around a new fortress (the 'Sala Partinici', of which there are few ruins called 'the Castellaccio' on the slopes of Mount Cesarò) that the abbot of the Cistercian Park built in 1309 "(See F. Maurici, “Castelli medievali in Sicilia: dai bizantini ai normanni”, Sellerio, 1992, p. 342). Throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth century was not recorded in the house a great increase in population, that we can identify in the early sixteenth century, when Partinico became the priest’s residence in 1573: "From 1307 to the first half of the ‘500 the urban and demographic development was very low, so that at the time of Charles V (1500-1558) the city counted in 70 homes, with an estimated population of about 500 inhabitants, that Rocco Pirro brings to 20 at the time of the first edition of his 'Sicilia Sacra' (1630). [ See G. Casarrubea, p.22).
Between the seventeenth and eighteenth century the population, despite many difficulties related to agricultural crises and epidemics remained stable, but with very low rates; in any case, in these centuries we have to record an increase in religious buildings: "The '600 was still the century of religious orders, convents and churches” (See Casarrubea, p. 40). Things tend to improve in the eighteenth century, when "the living conditions of the inhabitants of Partinico were not very unfortunate. The population increased from 2032 inhabitants in 1631 to 9772 of 1798 "(Casarrubea, p. 43). In the seventeenth century, in fact, the situation looked like back in the days of Al Idrisi, who described the country of Partinico as particularly fertile.
In the eighteenth century we do not have a chronicler in Partinico as Al Idrisi, but there have been passed down some lines of a local writer (the Marquis of Villabianca. See Casarrubea, p. 43), who wrote in Sicilian dialect: “ ...Partinicu ... /Chiesi avi grandi e casi appalazzati /La sua campagna tutta è abbivirata / acqui sorgivi e frutti prilibati /In idda ùn c'è terra chi spugghiata /Fussi di olivi, vigni e siminati ...” [Partinico now has great churches and palaces, and it is rich in springs and delicious fruits and is full of olive groves, vineyards and fields sown].
By the nineteenth century we witness the development of a large agrarian bourgeoisie (the owners were over 5000), next to the property belonging to the aristocracy. Being an agricultural area, with a significant presence of labourers, there were very strong frictions with the large property in the late nineteenth century, which saw Partinico participate in the agrarian struggles promoted by the so-called "Fasci Siciliani." Today, as before, the main productions are those of the wine, cereals, oil, which, except for cereals, were products of export. Even today Partinico is a well known agricultural town, and it is also important in the artisan woodwork and iron.