History
Origins
The territory of Vallelunga is assumed to have been inhabited since the Bronze Age. Evidence of this includes the site discovered in the Tanarizzi district, which consists of a tomb containing human remains dating back to the Bronze Age and vessels that are now preserved in the Paolo Orsi Regional Archaeological Museum. In the Casabella area, between the territories of Vallelunga and Villalba, the remains of an ancient urban settlement can be visited. Recently, during modernization works on the Palermo-Catania railway, a Roman villa was discovered in the Manca district. Excavations are still ongoing.
Norman Period
The feudal origin of Vallelunga dates back to the Norman conquest of Sicily led by the Hauteville family. In the second half of the 12th century, Roger II, upon establishing the County of Cammarata for his relative Lucia, incorporated the fief of Vallislonge into it.
From the Sicilian Vespers to the 16th Century
Following the Sicilian Vespers of 1282 and the subsequent redistribution of feudal properties across the island, the fief was assigned to the Valguarnera family. In 1349, the Crown granted the fief to Giovanni Caltagirone, nephew of one of the key figures of the Vespers conspiracy. Upon his death, the territory passed to his cousin Puccio Omodei (or de Homodei), who already owned a seventh part of the fief received as a dowry from his wife. The Omodei family held the barony for four generations until Vincenzo I.
From the Notarbartolos to the Marinos: The Birth of the Village
Following the marriage between Vincenzo I Omodei and a member of the Notarbartolo family of Polizzi (princes of Villanova), the fief remained with the latter house from 1570 to 1621. In that year, Ninfa Notarbartolo (daughter of Vincenzo II) married the nobleman Pietro Marino. The latter paid the 400 ounces required by the Treasury to obtain the licentia populandi, granted on September 3, 1633. The granting of this document initiated the first stable resettlement of the fief and marks the conventional founding date of the inhabited center.
The Era of the Papè Family and the Abolition of Feudalism
The Marino family, who held the barony for three generations, was succeeded by the Palermitan house of Papè, Dukes of Prato Ameno. The Papè family held the barony for seven generations until 1812, the year the Sicilian Constitution was promulgated, marking the formal abolition of feudal rights on the island.
Economy
Located in the northern part of the free municipal consortium of Caltanissetta, the municipality is rich in traditions, craftsmanship, and agricultural produce: almonds, tomatoes, wheat, grapes, and olives. In ancient times, it was a flourishing center for the production of pottery and brickwork, which has since disappeared.
Hundred of Vallelungesi settled in the cities of Buffalo and Batavia in the US state of New York in the early 20th century, both communities establishing societies dedicated to Our Lady of Loreto, patroness of Vallelunga at the Buffalo and Batavia churches (both named St. Anthony of Padua Church). The annual feast is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of September.
