The Palazzo Filangeri had been abandoned for many years. The complex was built between 1750 and 1760, for the Filangeri family. The interior of the Palazzo Filangeri was in an advanced state of decay. However, there are surviving traces of the decorations in the vaults, partly painted.
Villafrati is an Italian town of 3,364 inhabitants in the province of Palermo in Sicily . It is located on the main link between the capital and Agrigento in Sicily, at the foot of the so-called Busambra Rock , along the River Milicia.
The early stages of growth of the town began in the eighteenth century through the development of a previously existing Farm as a result of a series of evolutions of games since the first prehistoric settlements. This was the start thanks to the grant by the Spanish crown of licentia populandi (1602 ca.) The village grew very slowly. A half a century after its founding, there were only five hundred souls, and who led the parish community.
The municipality had a strong impetus to the expansion due to the aristocratic family of Filangeris, who decided to start the first significant buildings, with the construction of the Castello district. Villafrati distinguished himself in the century immediately following, as producer of gypsum, with the proliferation of family-based.
Villafrati culture is essentially theater. The country retains a primitive chessboard structure and still has the original buildings in the historic center.
Particularly interesting are the eighteenth-century palace complex called Baglio and the Port of Mysteries at the entrance of the church.
The Baglio is a complex of buildings constructed for residential purposes by the family of Filangeris. It consists of large areas, once sumptuously decorated, surrounded by three courts. The main Court is oval, and is the most important road axis
The interior and the bodies assigned to the business with baronial buildings devoted to bondage, and with the secondary entrance used as a theater.
The door of the Mysteries is the entrance to the church. It consists of six bronze panels that bear the narratives of religious events related to the history of the country.
Other interesting buildings are the Church of SS. Trinity has a single nave, built at the behest of Filangeris always in the eighteenth century, and the Church of St. Anthony of Padua in 1745.
Folklore
A Villafrati is strongly felt the cult of SS. Crucifix in honor of which takes place every year cunnutta Torci a parade of horses and mules harnessed to party carrying grain as a thank you for the good year. The jockeys, a sign of devotion, carrying lighted candles in hand decorated with bouquets of flowers. The event, though of a religious nature, assumes considerable importance in its connection with the cult of Ceres.
Points of Interest
Some clay objects, found in a cave on Mount Chiarastella have demonstrated the existence of a significant prehistoric settlement so as to suggest the following development is also a greek settlement on top of it.
Always on the pad are palatial buildings in Arabic style for the spa, the so-called Baths of Cefalà .
In other areas of the territory there are more remains.
The country’s economy is based primarily on activities related to agriculture and the service sector.
The crops are more profitable than cereals. The amount of grain produced by the companies in the area can get to 40-50 quintals per hectare.
Also spread the cultivation of the vine, olive and almond trees.
VILLAFRATI Great pic’s ….