- published: 07 Sep 2012
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Campobello di Licata (Sicilian: Campubbeddu) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region Sicily, located about 110 km southeast of Palermo and about 30 km east of Agrigento. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 10,647 and an area of 80.9 km².
Campobello di Licata borders the following municipalities: Licata, Naro, Ravanusa and Canicattì.
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Media related to Campobello di Licata at Wikimedia Commons
Licata (Greek: Φιντίας; Latin: Phintias or Plintis; formerly also Alicata) is a city and comune located on the south coast of Sicily, at the mouth of the Salso River (the ancient Himera), about midway between Agrigento and Gela. It is a major seaport developed at the turn of the twentieth century, shipping sulphur, the refining of which has made Licata the largest European exporting centre, and asphalt, and at times shipping cheese.
West of the port city there is a series of pocket beaches separated by wave-cut headlands as high as 40 m. (Amore 2002).
The site of archaic settlements, the city was founded on the right bank of the Salso in 282 BCE, by Phintias, a tyrant of Agrigentum, who named it for himself, razing the city of Gela and resettling its population at his new settlement. Phintias laid it out on a great scale, with its walls, temples, and agora. As late as the 1st century BCE, inscriptions and coins show that the inhabitants retained the name Geloi. The setting took advantage of a small natural harbour, about 80 m across, which corresponds to a natural depression along the coast that is now infilled with construction. The site was protected by the headland now named Monte San Michele. At nearby Cape Ecnomus, in 256 BCE the Romans won a major battle in the First Punic War.