PIAZZA ARMERINA ENNA CIVITAS OPULENT

3° Title of Civitas Opulentissima

Nel 1517 our city, then called Pulice, who counts ca. 10,000 inhabitants, grows in importance and on 2 September, with the privilege granted in Magdeburg (Saxony-Germany) by King Charles V of Habsburg Kings of Spain and King of Sicily (1500-1558), deserves the title of Civitas Opulent (Rich Town) and also to lugging the municipal coat of arms to the Black Eagle of the Royal House of Aragon, as it appears in the wooden ceiling of the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, the first Patron Saint of the city.

In the photo below a mercenary soldier landsknecht infantry, coming from regions of the Holy Roman Empire (Central Europe-Germany) employed by Charles V during the sack of Rome in 1527. It is in this year that begin construction work on the top two floors of the 14th-century Church of St Mary major legacy.
The tower is built as a testimony of faith of the town for deliverance from the plague in those months.

PIAZZA ARMERINA ENNA CIVITAS OPULENT

GAETANO MASUZZO, Piazza Armerina