Corleone (; or ) is an Italian town and comune of roughly 11,158 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, in Sicily.
Several Mafia bosses have come from Corleone, including Tommy Gagliano, Gaetano Reina, Jack Dragna, Giuseppe Morello, Michele Navarra, Luciano Leggio, Leoluca Bagarella, Salvatore Riina and Bernardo Provenzano. It is also the birthplace of several fictional characters in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather, including the eponymous Vito (Andolini) Corleone.
The local mafia clan, the Corleonesi, led the Mafia in the 1980s and 1990s, and were the most violent and ruthless group ever to take control of the organization.
Corleone municipality has an area of with a population density of 49 inhabitants per square kilometer. It is located in an inland area of the mountain, in the valley between the Rocca di Maschi, the Castello Soprano and the Castello Sottano. Corleone is located at above sea level.
History
Etymology
The etymology of the name is uncertain, undergoing various modifications from the Ancient Greek Kouroullounè to the Siculo-Arabic Qurlayun of the Emirate of Sicily, from Latin Curilionum to the Norman Coraigliòn, from the Aragonese Conillon, Coniglione from which the Sicilian Cunigghiuni originated. The modern name originates from 1556.
Another belief is that the name derives from an Arab fighter named Kurliyun (cf. Coeur Leon, "Lionheart"), who conquered it for the Aghlabids in 840.
Antiquity
The territory of Corleone has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Recent research has identified several settlements distributed around two main areas: Pietralunga and The Old One (La Vecchia). This name refers to a mountain that rises to about , and is about from today's town. The site of Pietralunga was occupied from the final Neolithic Period to the Bronze Age (the presence of a glass bell decorated in pointillé) while the site of The Old One has been inhabited since the Middle Ages (the presence of an imposing castle with towers has recently been identified). However, the biggest part of the settlement was built in the archaic and classical period. "A few materials relating to the Hellenistic period found at the site have supported the identification of the ancient town situated on the Old One with the ancient town of Schera, cited by Cicero, Cluverio and Ptolemy, although the archaeological remains on which this theory is based are still too unstable. (D'Angelo - Spatafora).
Middle Ages
In 840, Corleone was conquered by the North African Aghlabids during the Muslim conquest of Sicily. It was during the Muslim occupation that it gained economic, military and strategic importance. In 1080 the city was conquered by the Normans, and in 1095 it was annexed to the Diocese of Palermo. Even in the 1170s it was recorded that over 80% of the population of the area was Muslim and that many bore Arabo-Islamic names derived from Greek. There was also a mosque, called Masgid al-Barid, within the town. Following the large-scale anti-Muslim attacks by Lombard settlers in eastern Sicily in 1161 led by future King of Sicily, Tancred, the town became a refuge for many fleeing Muslims. In 1208, a Muslim uprising succeeded in retaking the town from Christian rule. In 1222, while speaking with the pope, Frederick II of Sicily cited the need to fight the Muslims of Corleone as a reason for his inability to send a large crusader army to Jerusalem. To this day the rock formation Castello Soprano, has a Saracen lookout tower on top of it. While the town's other rock formation, Castello Sottano, did not preserve its own Saracen fortification, it is still also known as Castello di Saraceni.
Nearly a century later, in 1180, it was enfeoffed (deeded) to the new diocese of Monreale. In this period, Corleone was largely repopulated by Ghibellines from Alessandria (modern Piedmont), Brescia and elsewhere—"Lombards" led by Oddone de Camerana. The migrations were encouraged by Emperor Frederick II of Sicily, to strengthen his position against the Guelphs. In 1249, however, he revoked the privilege and gave the city to the royal property, though the migration of the inhabitants from the Po Valley continued until the beginning of the Sicilian Vespers in 1282. Another Camerana, named Boniface, distinguished himself in the revolution of the Sicilian Vespers. He led the insurrection against the Angevins with three thousand people from Corleone, in alliance with the city of Palermo. In recognition, the Senate of Palermo called Corleone soror mea (my sister).