Menfi

Menfi
—  Comune  —
Comune di Menfi
Menfi Location of Menfi in Italy
Coordinates: 37°36′N 12°58′E / 37.6°N 12.967°E / 37.6; 12.967Coordinates: 37°36′N 12°58′E / 37.6°N 12.967°E / 37.6; 12.967
Country	Italy
Region	Sicily
Province	Agrigento (AG)
Frazioni	Porto Palo, Lido Fiori, Capparrina, Bertolino di Mare
Government
- Mayor	Michele Botta
Area
- Total	113.2 km2 (43.7 sq mi)
Elevation	109 m (358 ft)
Population (30 November 2008)[1]
- Total	12,918
- Density	114.1/km2 (295.6/sq mi)
Demonym	Menfitani
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	92013
Dialing code	0925
Patron saint	St. Anthony
Saint day	13 June

Menfi is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region Sicily, located about 70 km southwest of Palermo and about 60 km northwest of Agrigento.

The town lies some 3 km from the south coast of Sicily, between the rivers Belice and Carboj. In 1910, a full third of the population of the town of Menfi had emigrated to the United States [1]. There was a particularly large community of Menfi emigrants in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, New York City. On Starr Street in this neighborhood in Brooklyn, the emigrants established "The Flower of Menfi", which was a social club for Menfi emigrants and their families. On April 16, 1927, "The Flower of Menfi", described as "an organization of young men in Brooklyn", publically sent a telegram to Governor Fuller asking for clemency in the openly anti-Italian American trial of Sacco and Vanzetti. [2]

Main sights

• A tower (Torre Federiciana), remain of a medieval castle built by Frederick II of Hohenstafen in 1238, perhaps over an Arab fortification.
• Chiesa Madre ("Mother Church"), built in the 18th century but destroyed by an earthquake in 1968. It has been later rebuilt.
• Church of St. Joseph (1715).

Remains of an Iron Age prehistoric settlement have been found in the 1980s outside the town.

Twin towns

• Canelli, Italy, since 1997
• Chivilcoy, Argentina, since 1999
• Ettlingen, Germany, since 2004

References

1. ^ All demographics and other statistics: Italian statistical institute Istat.

External links

• Official website