|
Ragusa
Ibla was founded on the original territory of the ancient Siculian
town of Hibla Herea, of which many tokens remain, such as rectangular-shaped
burial niches in the Gonfalone's valley, along the road driving
to Modica. Some of these were reconstructed inside the archaeological
museum of Ragusa.
Few
centuries later, Ragusa was taken over by Greeks, whose usages and
customs it deeply absorbed. A few number of Necropolises (graves
dug in the ground and then covered up with layers of stones) located
on the surrounding territory, is what remains of that period. They
are usually located along country roads (Cartolillo, Cava Pece,
Cucinello and Tabuna).
Afterwards,
Hibla Herea held its own independence until Roman Invasion (iii
b.C), when it became a Province of the Empire. After the division
in Western and Eastern Empires, it was, for five long centuries
a Byzantine reign, changing its name in "Hereusium in Reusia".
During this period the town, as many in Sicily that were scarcely
supported by the Byzantines, was repeatedly raided by Vandals, Goths
and Visigoths. There just remain few graves like that of the "Trabacche"
in the little Buttino's valley.
In
844, already menaced before, it had to surrender to the Saracens
and to bear hard terms. It followed some vain attempt of rebellion,
and finally, in 848, it changed its name in Rakkusa or "Ragus",
symbolically accepting the foreign dominion. After all, some two
centuries of Arabian rule, determined a remarkable growth for Ragusa,
whose economic, cultural and social welfare was infinitely improved,
as well as that of all Arabian conquests, whose principal character
was, first of all, an high degree of religious toleration (never
found in the spirit of our "holy crusades", right dating
from that period).
In
the 11th century Normans conquered Sicily, and Goffredo, Ruggero
I's son, was nominated first Count of the new born County of Ragusa.
The
town was definitively named Ragusa, and was successively land of
Swabians and of the French army of Charles of Anjou. A rebellion
against French troops, led by Giovanni Prefolio, rose up in Ragusa
on 5th April 1282, and finally liberated the town. Prefolio was
first designated Governor and then Count of Ragusa. It followed
the period of Chiaramonte's dynasty, when Ragusa politically joined
the County of Modica, and then of the Cabrera, the Henriquez and
of the other dynasties who succeeded at the County's rule. A peculiar
phenomenon, during Cabrera's period, was that of the emphyteutic
concession of lands to the peasants, who, on payment of an annual
tax, could lifetime enjoy it, on condition that they would improve
it. This was a revolution in agriculture. Another important event
was, in April 1695, the request (then accepted) of the administrative
and political division between the "old" and the "new"
Ragusa, because of the ceaseless rivalry among the "elite"
families. In 1703 the two sides of Ragusa were re-unified, the local
disputes still persisting.
In
1713 the "Treaty of Utrecht" assigned Sicily to the Kingdom
of Savoy, though the County still remained a Spanish dominion.Thus
Sicily and the County were first (1720) assigned to the Austrian
Hapsburg Empire and then (1738) annexed to the Borbone's Kingdom
of Two Sicilies, which comprised all of the Southern Italy.
Finally,
in 1860, the exploit of Garibaldi and the consequent Plebiscite,
sanctioned the Island's annexation to the Savoy's Kingdom of Italy.
Contrasts
and further divisions followed between the two Ragusas, up to 1926,
when the town was designated province of the Italian Kingdom (Italian
Republic in 1948).
|
