L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 8 THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2026 L'Italo-Americano I f i t i s t r u e , t h o u g h impossible to prove, that mythology has i t s r o o t s i n s o m e form of reality, then this story begins with none o t h e r t h a n H e r c u l e s . According to legend, Hera- c l e s , a s h e w a s k n o w n i n G r e e k m y t h o l o g y , t h e demigod born to Zeus and the mortal queen Alcmene, b e c a m e f a m o u s f o r h i s superhuman strength and t h e T w e l v e L a b o r s . T o restore his strength, he is said to have immersed him- self in the warm thermal w a t e r s o f T e r m i n i Imerese. To understand the town's origins, we must go back in t i m e . T h e C a r t h a g i n i a n s destroyed Himera in 409 BC. Two years later, the settle- ment was rebuilt about seven and a half miles to the west, on the site where Termini Imerese stands today. It was t h e n k n o w n a s T h e r m a i H i m e r a i a i , o r T h e r m a e Himerae in Latin, a name inspired by the nearby hot springs, which are still in u s e . T h e m o d e r n t h e r m a l baths stand in the same loca- tion chosen by the Romans, a n d s o m e r e m a i n s o f t h e ancient complex can still be seen. Even before Himera was destroyed, the poet Pin- dar wrote about the area in his Twelfth Olympian Ode, c o m p o s e d i n h o n o r o f Ergoteles of Himera, a victo- rious long-distance runner. A c c o r d i n g t o m y t h , t h e Nymphs caused the waters to spring from the ground to please Athena, goddess of wisdom, the arts, and mili- tary strategy. It was in those same waters that Hercules was said to have bathed after fighting Eryx, the mythical king of the Elymians, who c h a l l e n g e d h i m a n d w a s killed in the struggle. The legend inspired the mint of ancient Himera. Between the sixth and fifth centuries BC, it issued coins bearing the h e a d o f H e r c u l e s o n t h e obverse and three Nymphs o n t h e r e v e r s e . Tetradrachms and Himeran l i t r a e a l s o d e p i c t e d t h e nymph Himera, a quadriga, sacrificial scenes, or groups of Nymphs, all referring to the town's thermal waters. According to the Greek historian Diodorus Sicu- lus, the city was founded by the Carthaginians together w i t h L i b y a n s e t t l e r s . Cicero, however, claimed t h a t i t s i n h a b i t a n t s w e r e survivors of Himera. It is more likely that Himeran exiles arrived in the settle- ment later. When Dionysius, t h e t y r a n t o f S y r a c u s e , attacked the Carthaginian e p a r c h y i n 3 9 7 B C , h e received support from the people of Termini. After 361 B C , t h e c i t y c a m e u n d e r Carthaginian control. In 260 BC, during the First Punic War, the Romans suffered a s e r i o u s d e f e a t t h e r e , although they finally con- q u e r e d i t i n 2 5 3 B C . T h e inhabitants subsequently remained loyal to Rome. In 1 4 6 B C , a f t e r t h e f a l l o f Carthage, Scipio Aemilianus returned the works of art that had been taken from Himera. By the Middle Ages, the main lines of the original urban layout were still visi- ble. What is now Piazza del Duomo was probably once t h e R o m a n f o r u m . T h e cardo may have followed p r e s e n t - d a y V i a d e l B e l v e d e r e , w h i l e t h e decumanus corresponded to the streets leading from the cathedral toward San Gio- vanni. After the fall of the West- e r n R o m a n E m p i r e , t h e t o w n e n t e r e d a p e r i o d o f decline. Over the following centuries, it changed consid- e r a b l y a s d i f f e r e n t n o b l e d y n a s t i e s s u c c e e d e d o n e another. Once an important center for trade, particularly t h e e x p o r t o f g r a i n t o M e d i t e r r a n e a n p o r t s , i t eventually saw the closure of its grain-loading facilities. Termini Imerese later recov- ered through craft produc- tion and proto-industrial activities of the kind that began to develop in Europe and elsewhere from the sev- enteenth century, before the Industrial Revolution. At the end of the eigh - teenth century, Palermo's Accademia Ereina made the town the seat of its Ere- i n a I m e r e s e s e c t i o n . N o t l o n g a f t e r w a r d , i t a l s o became home to the Accad- emia Euracea. The popu- lation later declined sharply because of emigration to the Americas, though this was p a r t l y o f f s e t i n t h e e a r l y twentieth century by arrivals from the provinces of Agri- gento, Messina, and Ragusa. Termini Imerese was offi- cially granted the title of city on July 30, 1953. Among its main cultural institutions is the municipal library, which opened on May 17, 1800. By 2009, it held approximately 102,000 volumes, including incunabula and sixteenth- century printed works, as well as an archive containing documents dating back to the sixteenth century. Also significant is the Civic Muse- um, housed in the former Fatebenefratelli hospital, where important archaeo- logical finds from the town and surrounding area are displayed. Returning to the thermal baths, the present establish- ment was built in the seven- t e e n t h c e n t u r y o v e r t h e ruins of an earlier complex. In the nineteenth century, t h e G r a n d H o t e l d e l l e T e r m e w a s a d d e d . I t w a s designed by engineer and architect Giuseppe Dami- a n i A l m e y d a , w h o w a s r e s p o n s i b l e f o r s e v e r a l m a j o r w o r k s i n P a l e r m o , i n c l u d i n g t h e T e a t r o Politeama, the restoration of the Palazzo di Città, the Sala Almeyda in the Munici- pal Historical Archive, and the pavilions in Villa Giulia. He also designed the Munic- ipal Theater in Syracuse and Casa Florio on Favignana. The Grand Hotel was fre- quented by Palermo's upper middle classes and served as Ignazio Florio's operational headquarters during the leg- e n d a r y T a r g a F l o r i o , t h e automobile race held along the roads of the Madonie mountains. Further evidence of the importance of water in this a r e a c a n b e f o u n d i n t h e Roman Cornelius Aque- duct. Built in the second century AD and extending for about five miles, it car- ried water from the springs on the slopes of Monte San Calogero to the town center. Its most spectacular surviv- i n g s e c t i o n i s a b r i d g e formed by two tiers of arch- es. The springs are volcanic in origin and emerge at a temperature of around 109 degrees Fahrenheit. Their waters are believed to bene- fit bathers and are suitable not only for thermal bathing but also for mud treatments and other therapies. Yet Termini Imerese is a s s o c i a t e d n o t o n l y w i t h water and thermal baths, but also with road racing. A museum devoted to the T a r g a F l o r i o h a s b e e n e s t a b l i s h e d i n a f o r m e r slaughterhouse, where visi- tors can admire genuine his- toric cars. Remarkably, their bodywork was once shaped by hand using little more than a candle, a bar of Mar- s e i l l e s o a p , a n d a s m a l l wooden hammer. The muse- um also houses a restoration c e n t e r a n d a v o c a t i o n a l training workshop for crafts- people specializing in vin- tage cars. The project was created through the Fon- dazione Targa Florio, with the support of the municipal administration of Termini Imerese, keeping the memo- ry of the Florio family close- ly connected with the town. Nor should we forget that Termini Imerese is famous for its Carnival, the oldest in Sicily. But that is another story. TERESA DI FRESCO Termini Imerese and its historic, almost mythical thermal baths LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE A street in the historic center of Termini Imerese, the Sicilian town whose identity has been associated for centuries by its thermal springs (Photo: Franca1950/Dreamstime)

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