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Within Paterno there is a geologic feature namedSalinelle, a place where small mud volcanoes emerge from cracks in the ground.[6] This area in which the Salinelle surfaces includes an archeological site currently uncovering evidence ofRoman baths previously built on and thought to have used the Salinelle mud.
The site of Paternò was settled before 3500 BC. Its inhabitants were probably theSicanians, although it was located in mainlySicel territory. The modern name derives form the GreekPaeter Aitnaion, meaning the "Fortress of theEtnaeans".[citation needed]
Ancient historians refer to two contiguous or nearby cities of Sican origin:Hybla Gereatis and Inessa (later renamedAetna). Most modern scholars regard the place called Castro as the site of Aetna, about 4 km northeast from Paternò, on a hill projecting from the foot of the mountain.[7]
It was a centre of medium importance in theGreek andRoman eras.
Hybla and Inessa fell into Greek hands around 460 BC, when they were besieged by the Syracusans led by the tyrantHieron I and the two centres were thus Hellenised.[8] They were also involved in the wars between the Syracusans and the Athenians and devastated by the latter, and later again by the former in 403 BC whenDionysius I of Syracuse came to power; in 396 BC he sent mercenaries to Aetna from Campania who carried out numerous massacres of the population for favouring the Athenians in 415 BC. Aetna and Hybla together with the other cities of eastern Sicily were liberated in 339 BC by the Corinthians led by generalTimoleon.
In 264 BC, theFirst Punic War broke out between theCarthaginians and the Romans and Aetna and Hybla sided with the former, but after their defeat the two villages fell inexorably under Roman domination. The Romans led by the consulManius Otacilius Crassus entered Aetna around 243 BC and conquered 67 other Sicilian cities.
Sicily became a Roman province and suffered Roman tyranny and exploitation with the enslavement of its inhabitants. In 136 BC this led to the revolt led byEunus andCleone ofCilicia in theFirst Servile War. During this battle, Aetna served as a place of refuge for many rebels, but together with Hybla, it suffered the greatest damage at the end of theSecond Servile War as agricultural and pastoral lands were damaged. The situation worsened further whenGaius Verres,praetor in Sicily in 73 BC, ordered extortion, robbery and violence of all kinds on the two towns, forcing them to deliver of 300 000 bushels of wheat and the payment of 50 000sesterces.
Aetna and Hybla were included in the cities ofcivitates decumanae, liable to pay Rome thedecuma tax of one tenth, and not enjoying the rights of other cities as they had been conquered after offering resistance.[9]
The longest aqueduct in Roman Sicily at 24 km length passed through the territory close to the city on its route toCatania.
It was largely depopulated in the three centuries before 1000 AD; during the subsequentArab domination of Sicily, it was known asBatarnù. After theNorman conquest in the 1040s, they built the castle and founded the current city; it was renamedPaternionis and began a period of flourishing. It was here that KingFrederick III of Sicily created theCamera Reginale ("Queen's Chamber") as a wedding gift for his wifeEleanor of Anjou, and this was inherited by the subsequent Queens of Sicily. This period of splendour for Paternò lasted until the 15th century, when it became a fief and in consequence slowly lost importance.
Historically, the area around Paternò was plagued bymalaria, caused by the marshlands of thePlain of Catania. This has since long been remedied, and the urban development of the town enjoyed a large acceleration in the 1960s and 1970s.
According to an account published in 1912 by the archaeologistPaolo Orsi, in the spring of 1909 a peasant woman digging near the Norman fortress at Paternò discovered a group of ancient silver vessels.[10] Contemporary descriptions of the contents of the find vary, but it apparently consisted of at least 9 or 10 pieces, some of them gilded.[11]: 205–208 The vessels were purchased for a low price by two men inCatania, who resold most of them to the antiquities dealers Cesare and Ercole Canessa in Paris.[11]: 206–207 Legal proceedings against the two men, whom Orsi identified as Silvio Spoto and Antonio Capitano, came to nothing.[10] The Canessa brothers had the vessels restored by Alfred André,[11]: 207 and between 1911 and 1914 seven of them were acquired by Robert Zahn, curator of theBerlin Antikensammlung, with the help of the wealthy von Siemens family of Berlin.[11]: 205–207 The seven pieces include three shallow cups or dishes with long handles,[12] a small fluted cup,[13] a largephiale with gold inlay,[14] a cylindricalpyxis,[15] and a second pyxis in the form of a scallop shell decorated with an octopus in relief.[16]
The vessels have been dated to the 4th century BC, and chiefly to the second half of that century.[17][11]: 235 Most of them are thought to have been produced in southern Italy, especially in the region aroundTarentum, but stylistic parallels with objects produced aroundSyracuse and inThrace have also been suggested for individual pieces.[11]: 235–237 [18]: 35 Six of the seven vessels in Berlin have punched inscriptions. These were apparently made at different times and name three or four different people, which suggests that the collection may have passed through several hands before its final deposition at Paternò in the 3rd century BC. Although written in Greek letters, some of the inscriptions may be Hellenized versions ofLatin orOscan names.[11]: 233–234
The train station was originally used mostly forfood transportation, and is now out of service. The main passenger station is part of thenarrow-gaugeFerrovia Circumetnea. The latter also provides a regular bus service to destination on the Catania-Adrano line.
Santa Maria dell'Alto, Mother Church (Chiesa Madre) of the town, built in 1342 and largely modified in the early 18th century. It is connected by a scenic staircase to the Porta del Borgo.
San Francesco alla Collina (1346), with a church in Gothic style and remains of Baroque decorations
Associazione Culturale Paternesi.com, a cultural association born in November 2002, from an idea of Giorgio Ciancitto, to take care of the city of Paternò around the world
^abcdefgPlatz-Horster, Gertrud (2003). "Der Silberfund von Paternò in der Antikensammlung Berlin".Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Insitutus.118:205–283.
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