Corleone
Corleone (Italian: [korleˈoːne]; Sicilian: Cunigghiuni [kʊnɪɟˈɟuːnɪ] or Curliuni [kʊɾlɪˈuːnɪ]) is a town and comune of roughly 11,158 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, in Sicily, Southern Italy.
The town is located in the central part of the Sicilian region, in a mountainous inland area at 542 meters (1,778 ft) above the sea level, protected by a crown of carbonate rock promontories; Rocca di Maschi, Castello Soprano and Castello Sottano. The municipality has an area of 22,912 hectares (56,620 acres) with a population density of 49 inhabitants per square kilometer.
The area on which Corleone stands has an ancient history, with the first human settlements dating back to the first phase of the Neolithic, in the 6th millennium BC.
The town's altitude and its location in a valley surrounded by hills halfway between Palermo and Agrigento gave Corleone a defensive and strategic advantage over the centuries. In fact, its position allowed to control important communication routes between the coastal areas and the Sicilian hinterland, and the natural protections fortified its defense.
There are several historical theories regarding the origins of the town's foundation. One of the most accredited sources dates it back to the 9th century AD, during the Muslim rule of Sicily. However, archaeological excavations conducted in the late 1990s show that the urban layout dates back to earlier times. According to some sources, the town was founded by Ancient Greek colonists and was a polis called Schera. Recent finds suggest the original layout dates back to prehistoric times.
Corleone was a central place in the history of Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian Mafia, which established itself in Sicily as a rural phenomenon in the late 19th century. The Mafia arose from the growing power of the gabellotti, individuals who had obtained concessions on lands belonging to the Sicilian aristocracy thanks to the abolition of feudal privileges in 1812, which caused the Sicilian nobles to abandon the countryside and return to the cities. The gabellotti paid to administer the lands, then divided them into lots and subleased them to peasants and laborers, who were treated like serfs, and their claims were violently repressed with the help of bandits. The institutional weakness following the Unification of Italy in 1861 allowed this new organization, formed by the union of landed exploiters and the rural criminals, and which would ultimately become the Mafia, to gain ever greater control over the rural areas.
The Corleone Mafia Family originated in the early 20th century and was most likely founded by Angelo Gagliano, a Corleone native with a criminal record and known for his violent nature, who later became the first boss of Corleone. Like other mafia clans, the Corleone Family was originally made up of gabellotti and cattle thieves.
The trade unionist and later mayor of Corleone, Bernandino Verro, firmly opposed the advance of the Mafia and fought hard to ensure respect for farmers' rights, agricultural cooperation, and the fair redistribution of landed estates. In 1915, he was killed by an unidentified hitman, on the orders of the mafia boss Angelo Gagliano, who had already attempted to assassinate him in 1910. Verro was the first mayor killed by the Sicilian Mafia.
After World War II, trade unionist Placido Rizzotto led a peasant movement in Corleone for the occupation of uncultivated lands, in order to counter the power of the Mafia and its land-owning management of the territory. This made him a target for the town's clans, particularly for clan leader Michele Navarra, who saw the trade unionist as a threat to his power and control. Rizzotto was kidnapped and assassinated on March 10, 1948. A local shepherd boy, Giuseppe Letizia, was also killed. He had accidentally witnessed the murder, becoming an inconvenient eyewitness for the mafia.
In the 1960s, the Corleone Family became increasingly powerful under the leadership of Luciano Leggio, who stood out for his ruthless ways. The Corleonesi Mafia clan, another local mafia group, led Cosa Nostra in the 1980s and was the most violent faction ever to take control of the organization.
Corleone is also the birthplace of several fictional characters in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather, including the eponymous Don Vito (Andolini) Corleone.
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