The name is supposed to come from the Arabic Gebel (mountain, hill) and Zghir (small); the full name means, therefore, “small mountain”, “small hill”. According to some historians it was founded by the Arabs in the early Middle Ages, the medieval center was formed in the fourteenth century around the castle built by Manfredi Chiaromonte. After the earthquake of 1968 and the devastation, the reconstruction of the village was slowly started in a place further down the valley, about 20 km away. To rebuild the town, the former mayor of the town Ludovico Corrao had the intuition to involve several world famous artists such as Pietro Consagra and Alberto Burri. The last one realized the “Grande Cretto”, one of the biggest environmental works of art in Europe, realized in the old Gibellina, in memory of the earthquake that destroyed it. Mario Schifano, Andrea Cascella, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Mimmo Paladino, Nanda Vigo, Carla Accardi and Leonardo Sciascia also responded to Corrao’s invitation. The city immediately became an immense laboratory of artistic experimentation and planning, in which artists and valuable works renewed the urban space according to an innovative perspective. Today Gibellina is an “en plein air” museum of modern architecture. Some examples are the Mother Church by Ludovico Quaroni, Palazzo Di Lorenzo by Francesco Venezia, the Entrance to the Belice by Pietro Consagra, Piazza XV Gennaio 1968 with the Torre Civica-Carrilion by Alessandro Mendini, the Sistema delle piazze by Laura Thermes and Franco Purini.
Scirocco Wine Fest è un progetto, inserito nel più ampio programma Destinazione Gibellina, che ha come obiettivo quello di costruire ponti tra queste culture così vicine tra loro, così intimamente connesse, come per buona parte della sua vita s’impegnò a fare una delle figure che hanno fatto la storia di Gibellina: Ludovico Corrao.
