According to historical documents, the first mention of Sperling as a castle dates back to 1082 ( R. Pirro, Sicilia sacra, Palermo, 1733 ). It is Count Roger of literacy, according to which the church Troiny (another forgotten by God in these days the town) was treated as the highest count 'privileges the north-eastern Sicily. In the list, among other names of towns and castles mentioned and Sperling. Very funny that at one time the church Troiny had such a weight. Worth quoting the names of other settlements and castles, to demonstrate this fact:
Messala (Messina) Rimekta (Ramakka) Milatium (Militello) Nikosium (Nicosia), Tauromenium (Taormina), and many others.
In the first half XII century Arabic geographer at the court of King Roger El Idrizi wrote his work "The Book of Roger", named by the author of "Garden of civilization / reasonableness and joy of soul. " This product Sperling mentioned several times. In an era which tells the historian, the castle belonged to the family Rossi (1132 - 1282).
In a more recent description of Tommaso Fatsello (ca. 1620) reported that the lock at the time of the Sicilian Supper ( Vespro siciliano ) served shelter for runaway Frenchmen. This fact is also confirmed by another author XVII century Munoz, who wrote that all the French, expelled of the Sicilian cities, found refuge in the Sperling, compassionate, and local farmers helped them every assistance.
famous Sicilian historian Michele Amari found in the archives of the Crown of Aragon in Naples, important documents, confirming the nearly year-long siege of the fortress Sperling in the evenings - a fact that to date the opening was considered by many nothing more than a legend.
Of course, in addition to proximity to cultural facts exist and legends, buyout for a long time also supported the people. One of them tells us that during the siege of the fortress (we are again talking about evening) deposited splashed on the besiegers boiling butter and cheese, made from a female (!) of milk, because cow's in the besieged fortress of course not.
the castle and is still undergoing restoration:
It is believed that the name is Sperling from the Greek "spelonka" - a grotto, which generally reflects the essence of the settlement - home to the grotto. Live in caves in the practice Sperling until 60-ies 20 th century. Even today walking through the streets of the town, you can see these same caves, but either abandoned or adapted for sheds and garages.
There is also a kind of Sperling open-air museum - «borgo rupestre», that is a village in the rocks.
True, no, no yes shows signs of human presence in these caves in our day:)
castle has the shape of the vessel , the aspirant's nose in the direction of Mount Etna, which in good weather, magnificent views.
Castle is one of the few examples castles, carved right into the living rock. It is assumed that the first settlements date back to the troglodytes sikulskomu and early Greek period.
Castle in its present form is almost completely restored and rebuilt entirely susceptibility become church, which in 1975 represented a literal the sense of a handful of stones. Also, in a medieval castle you can see food storage facilities and prisons, as well as the alleged Count's chambers. One evidence of the few "medieval" castle is the only surviving bifora, the rest were lost for centuries.
last owner Castle was Baron Nunzio Nicosia, who gave the castle Común city in 1973.
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