Capizzi is a comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

(municipality) in the Province of Messina

Province of Messina

Messina is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. Its capital is the city of Messina.-Geography and demography :...

 in the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 region Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

, located about 100 km southeast of Palermo

Palermo

Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...

 and about 100 km southwest of Messina. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 3,452 and an area of 69.9 km².

Capizzi borders the following municipalities: Caronia

Caronia

Caronia is a town and comune on the north coast of Sicily, in the province of Messina, about half way between Tyndaris and Cephaloedium...

, Cerami

Cerami

Cerami is a comune in Sicily, southern Italy, part of the Province of Enna. The town itself is perched on a mountaintop 1,000 metres above sea level. A river also named Cerami flows through this area....

, Cesarò

Cesarò

Cesarò is a comune in the Province of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about 120 km east of Palermo and about 80 km southwest of Messina.It is included in the Parco dei Nebrodi....

, Mistretta

Mistretta

Mistretta is a comune in the Province of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about 90 km east of Palermo and about 110 km west of Messina...

.

History

The origins of Capizzi are unclear, although certainly ancient. Capitium is mentioned by Cicero

Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...

 and Ptolemy

Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...

, and appears from the former to have been a place of some importance. He mentions it in conjunction with Haluntium (modern San Marco d'Alunzio

San Marco d'Alunzio

San Marco d'Alunzio is a city and comune in the Province of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, near the north coast of the island, located about 120 km east of Palermo and about 80 km west of Messina...

), Enguium (modern Gangi), and other towns in the northern part of the island, and Ptolemy enumerates it among the inland cities of Sicily. Its situation on the southern slope of the mountains of Caronia

Caronia

Caronia is a town and comune on the north coast of Sicily, in the province of Messina, about half way between Tyndaris and Cephaloedium...

, about 26 km from the Tyrrhenian Sea

Tyrrhenian Sea

The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy.-Geography:The sea is bounded by Corsica and Sardinia , Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Basilicata and Calabria and Sicily ....

, and the same distance from Gangi (Enguium), accords well with the ancient indications. (Cic. in Verr. iii. 4. 3; Ptol. iii. 4. § 12; Cluver. Sicil.)