VILLABATE
Villabate
counts almost 15,000 inhabitants. It seems that it was part of a
huge estate belonging to the Abbot Agnello and then passed onto
his heirs. His fine chapel can be still admired today.
The
site was much appreciated by many Palermo aristocrats who much loved
to stay there and enjoying its naturalistic riches. Thanks to a
Royal Decree in the early-1800’s, the hamlet ceased to be
an administrative division of Palermo to gain its own autonomy,
that would be confirmed by an ensuing decree. Its boundries were
marked at the end of the same century.
It
offers several cultural and artistic sites, begin with the 1800’s
Chiesa Madre, dedicated to St. Agatha containing a wooden statue
of Saint Joseph by Girolamo Bagnasco, and the remains of lookout
square towers built in the Spanish epoch along the coast to guard
against incursions from sea.
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