Monte Ficarazza in territorio di Centuripe (EN)

Archaeological evidence on ancient Centuripe, except for the Hellenistic period, is rare. A survey was therefore carried out in the surrounding territory in order to collect more data on the relationship between the ancient city and its chora. Monte Ficarazza, a hill not very far from Centuripe, is one of the most meaningful sites identified by the survey. Eneolithic evidence is scarce but the Ancient Bronze Age (22nd-15th century BC) is the well-documented by ceramics and stone tools, after which Monte Ficarazza seems to have been abandoned for a long period. During the lron Age, an indigenous community occupied the east top of the hill on a position that was easy to defend. Other groups of Sikels settled on the highest and best defensible hills of the area as well. This resulted a good defence system that dominated the surrounding agricultural landscape and the road connecting eastern to central Sicily. From the Archaic to the Hellenistic period, except for the 5th century BC, the archaeological evidence becomes denser. During the Hellenistic period the number of sites in the agricultural hinterland and the urban necropoleis still increased. This documents the favourable economy of the ancient city that was probably due to a specific cause: the so called 'Timoleontean recolonization', the effects of the pax romana and the privileged relations of Centuripe with Rome. The evidence for the Imperial Age is less clear and differs from that of other parts of the same territory. This indicates extensive exploitation of the agricultural land preferring cattle-breeding to farming and plateaus to hills.