- published: 04 Jan 2016
- views: 8536
Sciacca (Greek: Θέρμαι; Latin: Thermae Selinuntinae, Thermae Selinuntiae, Thermae, Aquae Labrodes and Aquae Labodes), also Schiacca, is a town and comune in the province of Agrigento on the southwestern coast of Sicily. It has noteworthy views of the Mediterranean Sea.
Thermae was founded in the 5th century BCE by the Greeks, as its name imports, as a thermal spa for Selinunte, whose citizens came there to bathe in the sulphurous springs of Mount San Calogero, which rises up behind the town. We have no account of the existence of a town on the site during the period of the independence of Selinunte, though there is little doubt that the thermal waters would always have attracted some population to the spot. Nor even under the Romans did the place attain to anything like the same importance with the northern Thermae; and there is little doubt that Pliny is mistaken in assigning the rank of a colonia to the southern instead of the northern town of the name. Strabo mentions the waters (τὰ ὕδατα τὰ Σελινούντια); and they are again noticed in the Itineraries under the name of Aquae Labodes or Labrodes.
Concetto Antonio "Con" Sciacca AO (born 13 June 1947 Italy), Australian politician, was an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from July 1987 to March 1996 and again from October 1998 to October 2004, representing the Division of Bowman, Queensland. He was born in Sicily, Italy, and was a solicitor and bank officer before entering politics.
Sciacca was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Security from 1990-94. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Arts and Administrative Services 1993-94, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Administrative Services 1994, Minister for Veterans' Affairs 1994-96 and Minister Assisting the Treasurer for Superannuation 1995-96.
After his re-election in 1998, Sciacca was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry 1998-2001. Sciacca contested the new Division of Bonner at the 2004 election, but was narrowly defeated by Liberal candidate Ross Vasta.