Leonforte, Italian comune
Leonforte is a town in central Sicily on the Monti Erei hills, founded in 1610 by Count Nicolò Placido Branciforti. The town center is marked by impressive fountains, including the Granfonte with 24 bronze nozzles and an older monumental fountain built in 1636 with arches and statues.
The area has been inhabited since about the 4th century BC as an ancient Siculi settlement called Tabas, and Byzantines later built Castello di Tavi fortress there. Under Spanish rule, the Branciforti family took control of the territory and founded the modern town in 1610 with planned urban design.
The town's name comes from the coat of arms of its founding family, showing a lion with severed paws holding a flag. This symbol appears throughout the town and reflects the pride residents have in their family heritage.
The town is accessible by road with signs from the A19 highway between Palermo and Catania. The town center can be explored on foot, with narrow streets leading past local shops and market areas where residents go about their daily routines.
Two local products have regional significance: the Fava Larga, a broad bean with unusually large seeds, and the Settembrina peach, protected by carefully bagging individual fruits while still green to keep them free from insects and chemicals. These traditional cultivation methods have been preserved for generations and continue to define the rural character of the area.
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