Cefalù

Cefalù (tʃefaˈlu; Cifalù), classically known as Cephaloedium (Kephaloídion), is a city and comune in the Italian Metropolitan City of Palermo, located on the Tyrrhenian coast of Sicily about east of the provincial capital and west of Messina. The town, with its population of just under 14,000, is one of the major tourist attractions in the region. Despite its size, every year it attracts millions of tourists from all parts of Sicily, and also from all over Italy and Europe. It is a member of the I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy") association. The city's Sicilian name is Cifalù. It was named by the Greeks who called it (Κεφαλοίδιον) or (Κεφαλοιδίς). These were latinised as Cephaloedium and Cephaloedis. Under Arab rule, it was known as . Under Carthaginian rule, it was known as "Cape Melqart" (𐤓𐤔 𐤌𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤕, ), after the Tyrian god. Of Siculian foundation, in the fourth century BC the Greeks gave the indigenous settlement the name of Kephaloídion, evidently derived from its situation on a lofty and precipitous rock, forming a bold headland (κεφαλή, kephalḗ, 'head') projecting into the sea. Despite the Greek origin of its name, no mention of it is found in the works of Thucydides, who expressly says that Himera was the only Greek colony on this coast of the island; it is possible that Cephaloedium was at this time merely a fortress (φρούριον, phroúrion) of Magna Graecia belonging to the Himeraeans and may have been peopled by refugees after the destruction of Himera, settling alongside the native Sicels. Its name first appears in history at the time of the Carthaginian expedition under Himilco, 396 BC, when that general concluded a treaty with the Himeraeans and the inhabitants of Cephaloedium. But after the defeat of the Carthaginian armament, Dionysius the Elder made himself master of Cephaloedium, which was betrayed into his hands. At a later period we find it again independent, but apparently on friendly terms with the Carthaginians, on which account it was attackers and taken by Agathocles, 307 BC.