Sperlinga

Sperlinga
Comune
Comune di Sperlinga
Sperlinga Location of Sperlinga in Italy
Coordinates: 37°46′N 14°21′E / 37.767°N 14.350°E / 37.767; 14.350Coordinates: 37°46′N 14°21′E / 37.767°N 14.350°E / 37.767; 14.350
Country	Italy
Region	Sicily
Province / Metropolitan city	Enna (EN)
Area
• Total	59 km2 (23 sq mi)
Elevation	750 m (2,460 ft)
Population (2014)
• Total	819
• Density	14/km2 (36/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Sperlinghesi
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	94010
Dialing code	0935
Website	comune.sperlinga.it

Sperlinga is a comune in the province of Enna, in the central part of the island of Sicily, in southern Italy. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("the prettiest villages in Italy").

Sperlinga is at about 750 m above sea level, on a hill on the southern slopes of the Nebrodi mountains. It has a number of troglodyte dwellings. The village is dominated by a large mediaeval castle, dating from late Norman times.

At the end of 2014 the population was 819 people, in 344 families.

The village is first mentioned (as "Sperlingua") in a privilege of the Norman Count Roger from 1082. The first information on the castle is from 1113, and the earliest direct reference to it from 1239.

Sperlinga reputedly did not participate in the Sicilian Vespers, the bloody uprising against the Angevin French rulers of Sicily in 1282, and may have offered them protection. An inscription over a door of the castle formerly read quod Siculis placuit sola Sperlinga negavit, or roughly "what pleased the Sicilians, only Sperlinga denied".

From about 1360 Sperlinga was held by the Ventimiglia family. In 1597 it was sold for 30,834 ounces of gold to Giovanni Natoli, who was granted a licentia populandi or "licence to populate" by the king of Sicily, Philip II of Spain, and was made Prince of Sperlinga in 1627. His son Francesco sold Sperlinga in 1656 to Giovanni Stefano Oneto, but retained the princely title. Oneto was made Duke of Sperlinga in 1666 by Charles II of Spain.

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Wikipedia