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 The
origins of Chiaramonte Gulfi date back to the 6th century b.C.,
when the Greek-Syracusans founded, like 70 years after Syracuse,
on the to-day's city's area, the town of "Akrillay", afterwards
destroyed by Saracens.
The survivors took refuge on the Mount
Arcibessi, where established "Gulfi", destroyed, in 1299,
by the French Anjou's army.
 All
its population was horribly massacred. Thus, on the initiative of
Manfredi Chiaramonte, Count of Modica, the town was rebuilt on a
higher and more sheltered place, eventually surrounded with walls.
Manfredi
supported the construction of a Castle and named the town after
its own name, Chiaramonte, obviously annexed to the County.
 In
1693 it was highly damaged by the earthquake, which destroyed all
of the Eastern Sicily. On 8th August 1881, Chiaramonte, through
a royal decree, was added the ancient appellation of Gulfi, as a
witness of the important and ancient past of the city.
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